11 am
by daydreambeliever32
Summary: The team is faced with yet another gang related murder except this time it's not the Russian mob. To make matters worst the FBI are connected to the case and want jurisdiction, but are eventually forced to work with the team. 2 new characters introduced!
1. Chapter 1

11 am

CSI Miami is property of CBS, Jerry Bruckheimer and the other dudes whose names escape at the moment :P. All the other characters that are not mentioned on the show belong to me. This is my first CSI: Miami fanfic, but not my first fanfic. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I have enjoyed reading all your stories here . I'll try and update as regularly as I can, so stay tuned. Cheers!

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_"Betrayal is the only truth that sticks" – Arthur Miller_

_8 am..._

It was a yet another uneventful day on the Miami beach coast as people went about their morning, whether it was jogging, walking their dogs or just enjoying the warm sun as it slowly rose up to the horizon. Bob and his partner Sam made their way below the piers along with the cleaning equipment they would need in order to pick up any garbage people may have left the night before. It was usually drunken college kids that left "little presents" for them now and then, but it was cleaning up the vomit on the sand that both Bob and Sam hated doing most. It was a dirty job, but someone had to do it. The pay wasn't bad either, and at least they'd be working in the beautiful beach today picking up trash while gawking at Miami's finest bikini models.

"So how bad do you think it's going to be today" Sam asked Bob

"Well, the weekend just ended so probably pretty bad." Bob answered nonchalantly

"I really hate those college kids always partying down here, leaving their empty beer cans all over the place and the vomit reeks. Kids today, they don't have any respect for anything anymore" Sam complained

"I hear ya, but if it weren't for them, we'd be out of the job now wouldn't we. Besides it's not that bad, just check out that hot little number over there" Bob turned and pointed to a woman wearing a bikini that left little towards the imagination. Bob smiled but his good mood was cut short as he bumped right into Sam, causing to trip onto the sand.

"Dude, what the hell is wrong with y..." Bob started and paused as he stared up at Sam who was staring straight ahead of him and looked paler than a ghost. Bob then turned around to see what Sam was staring at and instantly joined Sam's pale complexion at the sight of the 6 mangled bodies that lay before them.

"Son of a bi..." Bob began to say.

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_11 am..._

Horatio Caine stood in front of the crime scene before him as his team went about collecting evidence and examined the crime scene. The news that six bodies had been found below the piers had spread quickly as a large section of the crime scene had to be closed off 60 feet back in order to keep the press out. However, it was no use as a large crowd of spectators and the press stood behind the blockade as Horatio heard the press reporting off to their respected stations, while the rest of the crowd snapped pictures with their phone cameras or were recording whatever they could with their video cams. Just as Horatio was about to walk off to see how Calleigh and Eric were doing, the familiar voice of Frank Tripp called his named, and walked towards to where he was instead.

"Frank, what have we got so far on the victims?" Horatio asked.

"I'm afraid not much H, I just talked to the witnesses that found the bodies – a Bob Molina and Samuel Edwards. They're cleaners hired by the city that were on their way here to clean up the trash when they stumbled onto the vics this morning. But what I can tell you is that this looks like its gang related; do you think we could be dealing with the Russian mob again?" Frank asked.

"Gang related yes, but it's not the Russian mob" A woman answered as she approached Horatio and Frank Tripp.

"Please explain" Horatio asked the woman as he took off his sunglasses.

"Well all the victims were shot within close proximity of one another then mutilated, and after reviewing all of your last M.E's case files that were Russian mob related, this doesn't look like their usual M.O. Oh, and another thing is that the victims (judging from height and body mass) were all males of Asian descent. They're way too small to be guys from the Russian mob." The woman answered

"And you got that all just by looking at the bodies?" Tripp asked surprisingly.

"Yeah I did, I spent 3 months in Hong Kong as an intern. However, I won't be able to tell you the true cause of death and the possible weapons used to kill them until I get them to post. But what I can tell you is that it's possible that you're dealing with the triads. By the way I'm Doctor Leslie Armstrong, your new Medical Examiner" The woman answered.

"Thank you doctor, and welcome aboard" Horatio answered.

"So that's Dr. Price's replacement, she's pretty impressive. Do you think there's a possibility that these supposed triad members have any connection whatsoever to the Russian mob? Frank asked

"There is that possibility Frank, and it looks like we, are going to have to find out what exactly that is." Horatio said as he put his sunglasses back on.

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**Author's note: ha ha! I wrote that last part with the opening credits in mind...I just couldn't resist!


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Just a heads up, I revised the first chapter a little bit – nothing big, just mostly grammar. Also, someone asked me if one of the 2 new characters introduced will be a love interest for Ryan, and I can confidently say that the answer is no. However there is a little flirting but that's about it. I love Ryan/OC romance fanfics like no other, but I think there's just too many of them out there to write another one, plus I've got some REALLY big plans for this story that will be revealed in due time. So please enjoy!

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After collecting about half the evidence they needed in their case, Eric told Calleigh that he was heading back to the lab in order have the first batch of the evidence sorted and examined. Calleigh nodded, smiled then bid Eric goodbye as he left, and decided to stay at the crime scene in order to figure out how someone (or some ones) were able to kill 6 armed gang members; and since she was the ballistics expert it was only natural that she was to be the one who would determine the guns and calibers used in the gruesome murders. Horatio had also told her that Ryan was currently helping Frank canvas the area while looking for anyone who may have seen anything that close by, although those chances were slim. Calleigh continued to survey the crime scene and was in the process of bagging all of the bullet casings when Ryan came into the area where the bodies had been.

"Hey Calleigh, have you had any luck in determining how these guys were killed and with what yet?" Ryan asked

"Well so far I've found some .45 and 9 mil casings in and around the crime scene, and what I can tell you is that it looks like the vics were carrying hand guns." Calleigh said

"But the victims weren't holding any weapons when they were found" Ryan answered as he crossed his arms

"I know, but based on the directionality and placement of where these bullets were found they were aimed away from the victims and at something else. My guess is whoever shot them. There are also some bigger casings found around the bodies and the bullet wounds on the vics are too big to be made from a hand gun, so a rifle was definitely used. I won't know more until I get the casings plus the bullets from autopsy to the lab, and maybe then I'll be able to match the specific weapons used to the casings I found. What about you, did you have any luck with witnesses" Calleigh answered then asked.

"No luck whatsoever. To be honest, there was a pretty slim chance that there were going to be any witnesses that saw anything anyways. I talked to Dr. Armstrong before she took the bodies to post and she said that the time of death between each of the victims was around 4 am this morning and most people are sleeping then. I also found two different sets of tire tracks with blood droplets nearby, so my guess is that there was more than one person that was present at the time of the murders. This looks like a possible transaction between two gangs gone wrong, where one gang kills the other and takes off in their own car, while stealing the other. I've already took pictures of the tracks and made impressions for Delko to look at in the lab." Ryan answered confidently.

"That sounds like a really good theory to run with, plus it makes sense. But what I don't understand is why a Chinese gang would be in Miami. It could be possible that they're linked to the Russians somehow; we know that they're in the arms deal business which could explain why the vics' weapons were missing" Calleigh theorized.

Yeah, that's possible – to be honest, I really hope there's no connection between the two, we're already tangled up in a mess with the Russian mob and with another one? That would just suck even more." Ryan said.

Calleigh smiled a little at the joke, and answered, "Well, I guess we'll just have to see what the evidence tells us then. Horatio did tell me that Dr. Armstrong has had some experience dealing with this type of thing and she doesn't think that the Russian mob 's involved" Calleigh said with a hint of hope.

"Yeah, but I think that's really for us to determine right? By the way, what do you think about the new M.E.?" Ryan asked

"I'm still deciding, I didn't really get a chance to talk to her yet, but she seems to be a pretty thorough examiner - a bit icy, but thorough. What about you?" Calleigh answered while snapping pictures of more bullet casings and bagging them.

"She seems alright, it's just weird you know? That whole situation with Tara was so surprising. I don't know, I guess I'm still accepting the fact that Tara's gone." Ryan said sadly

"Yeah I know, I really liked Tara, but I just can't believe she would go and steal from the dead, it goes against everything that a doctor should stand for" Calleigh replied a little sadly.

"Everything that _we_ should stand for. Between the two of us, I do feel bad for her – I _am_ the one who implicated and had her arrested. But I couldn't have not have told Horatio, it was something that involved Julia and Kyle" Ryan answered.

"I know you already know this Ryan, but I'm going to say it anyways: you did the right thing" Calleigh told Ryan reassuringly.

"I still feel like I betrayed her you know? Anyways, I'm going to head back to the lab with the evidence I collected near the tire tracks. Do you need me to help you with anything before I go?" Ryan asked.

"Um, no I'm almost done collecting evidence here and I was going to send Natalia the blood samples when I got back anyways, but thanks for asking" Calleigh answered as she smiled at Ryan.

"Great, I'll talk to you later then. Keep me posted." Ryan answered and began to walk away.

"Oh and Ryan," Calleigh looked up and said as Ryan turned around.

"Yes?" Ryan answered

"I know you like to keep things to yourself, most of the time, but thanks for trusting me enough to talk to me about the whole thing with Tara." Calleigh stated, while Ryan just smiled appreciatively and walked to away from the crime scene towards his Hummer.

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Dr. Armstrong was underway with performing an autopsy on the first of the six victims as Horatio walked into the room. Of course, she was concentrating so hard on the DB on the table that she didn't even notice Horatio come in. Horatio stood in the room for a minute hoping that he would catch Dr. Armstrong's attention without having to say anything and notice that she had all of her tools and samples in such an order that impressed him.

"Dr. Armstrong." Horatio said in his usual monotone voice as Dr. Armstrong gasped.

"Lieutenant Caine, sorry you startled me, I didn't even realize that you came in. I'm assuming that you wanted so see how I'm coming along with the victims?" Dr. Armstrong answered.

"That is correct, I see that you've gotten to the first body" Horatio stated.

"Yes I know, I'm sorry about the delay - I had the hardest time finding everything that I needed to perform the autopsies on in this place – I actually had to move everything around, I hope everyone won't mind, but everything in here was a bit disorganized and I need the morgue to suit my needs" Dr. Armstrong answered coolly.

"I don't mind at all, it is your morgue after all now isn't it?" Horatio replied back

"Thanks, by the way I heard what happened to by predecessor, and I want you to know that I'm sorry that happened to you and your lab. Hopefully, I'll be able to give your team a more positive opinion on medical examiners again" Dr. Armstrong answered.

"I hope you will too Dr. So tell me, what have you got so far on the first victim?" Horatio asked.

"Well, not surprisingly the COD was gunshot wounds to the chest. Four bullets punctured both his lungs, while one hit the center of his chest splitting open his aorta. He bled out and died almost instantly." Dr. Armstrong answered.

"What about the mutilated face?" Horatio asked.

"That was done post mortem. My guess is that whoever mutilated each of the victims faces did it so that the bodies couldn't be identified, but they were careless because they didn't pull out any of the teeth from what looks like all of the victims. I've taken dental X-Rays from our first victim here and have collected a tooth for DNA testing, but I still need to pull out all of the bullets from the body before sending everything up. I also noticed a sticky substance within the gash on the face here, and I've collected a sample from that as well. I just don't know what to send which person for testing that's all. Do you think you can help me there sir?" Dr. Armstrong answered then asked.

"That's very good work doctor. I know you have your hands tied with the other 5 victims anyways, but you can ask one of your assistants next time to assist you with collecting evidence and sending it up to the lab for testing." Horatio answered.

"Oh ok" Dr. Armstrong answered unimpressed as she was used to working alone.

"Ok, I'll send someone down to collect everything but just to let you know, Calleigh Dusquene is the ballistics expert so any bullets or fragments go to her, Eric Delko usually handles underwater recovery, car tire tracks and is the fingerprint expert, Natalia Boa Vista and Maxine Valera are DNA analysts so blood-work or anything along those lines go to either of them, and Ryan Wolfe (whom you spoke with earlier today) is a trace analyst and electronics analyst so you can send him the substance found on the victim's face, or to Michael Travers - another trace analyst if CSI Wolfe is unavailable." Horatio replied.

"Great, I'll label everything accordingly and have one of the assistants take up the evidence I found then" Dr. Armstrong replied while dissecting further into the body.

"Thank you doctor and please keep me and the rest of the team posted on your progress" Horatio answered.

"Will do" Dr. Armstrong answered without looking up as Horatio exited the autopsy room.

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Ryan Wolfe entered the DNA lab where both Natalia and Valera were busy running samples for DNA. This was of course surprising as usually one of them and not the other was working in the lab, but today was obviously different because of the case load.

"Hey guys, so who am I talking to about the gang members murder down by the piers case?" Ryan asked.

"That depends, what do you want to know? Eric sent us a bunch of evidence this morning to get DNA from, and on top of that we're running the blood you found and Dr. Armstrong just sent us a whole truck load of more evidence to sort through from the bodies, so Valera and I have our hands full. I must say though, she's really thorough, kind of reminds me of someone I know" Natalia answered coyly while smiling and looking at Ryan.

"Oh come on, I'm not that anal...wait, am I really like that as well?" Ryan asked.

"Hahaha it's a good thing Ryan, I'm only teasing. So what would you like to know about? Natalia asked.

"The blood droplets that were found near the tire tracks; I'm guessing it belongs to one of the vics since they all had their faces mutilated, but is there any chance that one of possible killers had injuries?" Ryan asked.

"You're in luck, I compared the sample that you gave me to the victims and there were 7 separate DNA results – 6 from the victims and 1 from an unknown donor, I'm guessing it could be the killer. I ran the sample through CODIS but it came up empty." Natalia answered.

"Well Dr. Armstrong did say that the victims were of Asian descent and were possible gang members, what about checking the international database?" Ryan asked.

"That's worth a try." Natalia answered as she began searching through the international database for known felons.

"I've got something, wait a sec though – it's not letting me open the file. It says that it's restricted to the FBI" Natalia said frustratingly.

"Maybe I can give my connections over at the bureau a call to see if they can shed some light into the case" Natalia then added.

"You'll do no such thing miss" a woman answered who was standing at the door along with some other people.

"I'm sorry, who are you and how did you get in here?" Ryan asked

"I'm Agent Li from the FBI, and I'm here to stop you and your team investigating this particular case" Agent Li answered.

"What do you mean, how do you have jurisdiction over this – the murders happened on our turf!" Ryan fired back.

"I need you to ceased and desist from what you're doing right now and I need everyone that's involved in this case to hand over all the evidence collected and report to your conference room now." Agent Li answered coolly.

"You can't just come in here and take everything, there are procedures to follow and I can't release anything until our shift-supervisor says so" Natalia answered back.

"Actually, I can and will, and I don't have to explain myself to you, so unless you want to be arrested for obstruction I suggest you do as I say" Agent Li retorted.

"Ok, where's Horatio we need to talk to him about this – and who's in charge of you, I think we need to talk to him as well" Ryan replied.

"Right now, my supervisor is talking to yours" Agent Li answered once again in a cool matter.

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**There you have it, the second character is introduced! There will be more about her in the next coming chapters and more information pertaining to the case as well. There will also be some other minor characters coming soon, but other than that I really wanted to give more info on the murders and how everyone is going about solving it. Hopefully next chapter will be a bit faster paced! J

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	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: I just want to take this time and thank everyone who's been reviewing, adding my story to their alert/favourite lists, and for reading. It's really flattering, so I thank you all very much! And onto the technical stuff: this chapter will give more info on the case that both teams are investigating and will mention more minor characters as well. Oh and I know I pretty much closed the chapter on Tara, but assume that Eric is not MIA anymore...I'll think about explaining that later, but for now humour me ;)

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Horatio Caine and Agent Daren Levi sat across one another in silence for what seemed like hours, but in fact had only been a few minutes. Both stared at one another with such intensity that any normal person would crack under the tension. However, being two of the most stubborn people on the face of the planet both refused to give in and say the first word, though they both knew what they other one wanted: jurisdiction. Finally, Agent Daren Levi couldn't take it anymore and spoke up:

"Caine, I'm trying to be polite here but you know as well as I do the FBI is all over this case and has been for the 5 months – we were there first." Agent Levi said.

"That may be true, but as I recall reading in your files, your team had reached a dead-end with your investigation, and if it hadn't been for us, you would have had to drop your investigation." Horatio answered calmly.

"That still doesn't mean that you and your team gets the claim over this case, the Intel on this whole thing has been restricted to the FBI – face it Caine, without our files you won't have enough to build your investigation." Levi sneered.

"And without the evidence that my team has found you don't have a case period Agent." Caine fired back calmly. As if on cue, Rick Stetler and another FBI Agent (presumably the director of the FBI) walked into Horatio's office, both obviously fuming over the same problem Horatio and Levi had.

"Gentlemen" Horatio announced.

"Let's cut the formalities and get down to business, as you are well aware by now the FBI has been handling this case for months and with this sudden big lead the Miami Dade Police Department wants to claim jurisdiction? You know very well Horatio that I can't allow that. Do you have any idea how bad this makes us look? That and the brass have wanted to bring these two organizations down since they crossed international waters back in 2006." The Director of the FBI answered coolly.

"That may be so, but this lab and police department are familiar in dealing with gang related crimes and the Miami Dade CSI team is already far too deep in this case, gentlemen can't we agree to some sort of terms on this matter?" Stetler asked. Horatio on the other hand was surprised at Stetler's suggestion as he was usually the one who was more interested in saving face than doing what is right...but then again, Horatio realized that this would have been the perfect opportunity for Stetler to be simultaneously recognized along with the department if they were to claim jurisdiction on the case in question.

"Not happening, I have a capable team of Agents who all have had extensive field training and not to mention, Agent Angela Li on my team is also an expert on triad gang organizations and is as well adapted in the field of science as she holds a degree in biochemistry and criminal psychology. She's been the leading agent on my team handling this investigation and she also holds a special interest in this case as well." Levi argued.

"And what exactly is that?" Stetler asked while raising his eyebrows, while Horatio took a side stance.

"This case will define her career, she's up for promotion at the bureau and damn well earned it being the agent that she is." Levi huffed.

"That may be so, but this case isn't about glamour, it's about cleaning up Miami, since the millennium, gang related crimes have escalated 67% and have been an establishing ground for international gangs to cross into our borders. Director, Agent Levi with all due respect, we should be doing what's right here and not to obtain bureaucracy, and my team lab knows Miami like no other." Horatio defended while everyone sat in silence.

"Hmm, I see your point Horatio, but I can't give you jurisdiction. I can however, approve of a joint investigation." The Director finally announced.

"You can't be serious director..." Levi began to argue, but the director ignored him.

"Lieutenant Caine is right Daren, Miami has become a new establishing ground for international gangs and if we don't put a stop to this, the issue of national security will be faulted on us if terrorist groups will be able to slip in as easily as these international gangs. Agent Levi, I'm releasing the restricted data on your case into Lieutenant Caine and his team's custody so they can get a better grasp at what's going on right now. As for the logistics and what not, you two men can work it out, but be forewarned, I will not tolerate anything less than the full cooperation from both of your teams. I also want to be updated daily on the progress of this case; I'll talk to the director of the MDPD myself to confirm everything. And Lieutenant Caine, you're lucky to be as reputable as you are, or I wouldn't have considered the idea of a joint investigation - until then gentlemen, good luck." The Director said before getting up to leave.

"Sir, there is one thing; someone has to be in charge." Levi contested.

"Fine, heads or tails Agent Levi." The Director answered in an annoyed voice while pulling a quarter out of his pocket and throwing it up in the air and catching it.

"Are you serious, sir?" Levi answered with a quizzical stare.

"Heads. Or. Tails." The Director said firmer, while Horatio stood smiling a little at how easily it was for the Director to get under Levi's skin.

"Tails." Levi answered.

"It's heads, congrats Caine you're lead on this one, keep me posted." Director revealed and then walked out before Levi could get a word out.

"He really_ likes_ you doesn't he?" Stetler taunted Levi sarcastically.

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Even more tension was thick in the air as both Horatio's team and Agent Levi's team sat across from one another in the conference room. Ryan Wolfe looked across at the FBI agents and particularly at Agent Li who seemed to stare off into the distance, but at the same time, her eyes looked as if they could pierce through anything. Finally, Horatio and Levi arrived in front of the room and walked in along with Rick Stetler, who trailed behind.

"As you all know the FBI and MDPD have stumble onto the same case, but what MDPD doesn't know is what the FBI is investigating, until now. But before I continue, I'm here to announce that because of the expertise (your team Horatio) has in gang related crimes, and the FBI's familiarity with the case that in question that the director of the FBI and MDPD have agreed to a joint investigation." Stetler announced, while people shifted uncomfortably in their seats, and Stetler continued:

"This will be a good opportunity for the MDPD crime lab to say the least, and I expect nothing but cooperation from you – all of you. Horatio Caine will take the lead on this investigation and has decided that the MDPD crime lab will concentrate on the murder investigations which happened this morning, while processing the evidence which will be collected by both CSI and FBI teams, while the FBI will focus on building a case on the gangs which Agent Levi will describe further, Agent Levi." Stetler said then announced.

"Thank you Sergeant, for the last 3 years two rival gangs both originating in Hong Kong known as the Tiger 6s and Black Dragon have made an international name for themselves by crossing into the US Borders along the West Coast, and now both gangs are hoping to spread themselves all the way to the East end. According to the Hong Kong CID division, the rivalry between the two gangs didn't really escalate until they crossed international borders, so it's now up to us to drive them out or we could potentially have a problem with national security. Now onto the specifics, up until now we had suspected that the Black Dragons had originally crossed over to the U.S. in connection to the Russian Mob who is notorious in arms dealing because their organization wanted to take out the Tiger 6s and claim their territories and land holdings in Hong Kong, and wanted weapons that couldn't be traced back to their own government, so they were smuggling them into their country with the help of the Russians. Except the Tiger 6s found out and have made it their mission to destroy the Black Dragon gang by following them here to the US. I've downloaded all of the information my team has gathered in the last 5 months on this gang war into your MDPD system, but it will have restricted access to the people in this room only, and is not to be discussed between anyone else outside this case" Agent Levi explained then ordered.

"Now for some formalities, I currently have 6 agents on my team: Agents Steven Trate, Jacob Turn, Ben Coate, Craig Desert, Edward Song (who is currently undercover in the Black Dragon gang), and Angela Li whom I will be assigning to the MDPD lab as a liaison between the two teams, Lieutenant Caine?" Agent Levi introduced then looked at Horatio for anything further that needed to be said.

"Thank you Agent Levi, you'll have the full cooperation of my CSIs and we'll keep you inform of our findings as well. I guess that some introductions still need to be made – I've chosen the following to work exclusively on this investigation: Homicide Detective Frank Tripp, Medical Examiner Leslie Armstrong, DNA analyst Maxine Valera, Trace analyst Michael Travers, and CSIs Calleigh Duquesne, Eric Delko, Natalia Boa Vista and Ryan Wolfe (who will assist Agent Li in familiarizing herself with the lab)." Horatio followed up.

"Great, I guess that's it then. Agent Li please keep me posted – and Lieutenant, please feel free to have Agent Li assist you with any evidence processing that you may have, she's trained in that field as well." Agent Levi spoke before leaving along with the other members of his team.

"That would be helpful thank you. I'll have the department grant her a temporary pass." Horatio answered as Levi and his men walked out of the door leaving Li behind. Afterwards, Li felt uncomfortable sitting alone on one side of the conference table while Horatio's team sat on the other. However, her training as an agent took over as she sat perfectly still, and didn't even flinch when all 9 pairs of eyes settled onto her. Then Horatio spoke:

"Agent Li, welcome aboard, this is CSI Wolfe he'll be the one who can assist you. As for everyone else, let's not waste time, do we have any leads so far?" Horatio introduced and asked.

"Before we were interrupted, I was running the ballistics on the bullets that I found the guns and rifle used in the murders and it turns out they were from the guns which were stolen from the warehouse 1 month ago. Agent Levi only confirmed my findings." Calleigh announced in her Southern accent.

"Doctor?" Horatio asked.

"Well I was in the middle of an autopsy on our 2nd victim before this police pow wow, and I came up with the same results, GSW to the chest which resorted in exsanguination. CSI Delko was also down at the morgue dusting for prints on the bodies as well, but so far the only things that the victims have in common are what looks like their deaths, mutilated faces, and tattoo on their right chest of a Black Dragon, which I'm assuming means that they're part of the Black Dragon gang" Dr. Armstrong answered sarcastically while looking at Agent Li.

"Were there any dots underneath the picture of the dragon?" Agent suddenly asked.

"I'm not too sure; I could take a closer look, why?" Dr. Armstrong asked.

"Because it identifies their rank, similar to how the military here in the US id's the difference between a 3 star general to a 4 general – that type of thing. But in this case, the more dots you have encircling the picture of the dragon the higher up in the ranks you are." Agent explained.

"That's a good start, I'll check back with the international database for known criminals to compare the blood sample Ryan found near the crime scene since we'll be able to have access to it now, but I'm pretty sure that there will be a match since I was locked out last time indicating a red flag. But at least we know that the victims were definitely members of the Black Dragon triad." Natalia added and looked at Li.

"Let me save you the trouble, here are the names of your victims according to the database. However, your unknown donor from that sample doesn't belong to a gang member; it's Agent Song's. He's undercover right now, and from his reports, he states that the mutilation happened post-mortem and is part of his initiation, I know it's borderline, but sometimes we have to do what we have to do in order to get the bad guys." Agent Li said while pulling out a USB drive out of her coat pocket and defended.

"You had all this information all along?" Eric criticized.

"Yeah, well since we're playing nice now, I thought I'd share." Agent Li said sarcastically.

"What about the sticky substance found inside the facial gashes?" Dr. Armstrong asked.

"That was on my list of things to do, but I'm behind on processing. I was reviewing some traffic cams in the nearby area to see if anything suspicious was recorded, but so far nothing yet." Ryan answered.

"Yeah, I processed the tread marks you gave me, and it looks like that one of the cars can be a 2009 Escalade, while the other can be a 2009 SRX Cadillac Crossover, those are some flashy cars so they shouldn't be too hard to track down, and I've already issued a BOLO." Eric added.

"What about strategy? How are we going to bring down these two organizations?" Frank asked.

"We're still working on it, with Ed on the inside of only one gang it's been difficult, but we have reason to believe that the Black Dragon organization is crumbling, they're in huge amounts of debt – billions of dollars. We're still working on the how and why part, but our theory is that if they wipe out the Tiger 6s, they'll gain control of their extensive land and property holdings, thus, becoming out of debt and everyone in the organization is happy again not to mention ending the power struggle." Agent Li explained.

"Ok, it seems like we're making progress, I want everyone to keep working on their leads and we'll reconvene tomorrow to see what else everyone has come up with, and we'll also see what the Agent Li's team has got as well VIA interface" Horatio said before walking out of the room. Soon the rest followed except Ryan and Angela who sat facing one another, just staring.

"Well let's not waste any time, are you familiar with processing trace elements?" Ryan asked.

"I have a degree in biochemistry, and I wanted to become a crimminalist before the FBI" Agent Li answered.

"Really, what changed your mind?" Ryan asked.

"I wanted to work cross country based." Angela answered vaguely, but Ryan decided not to push it since they had just met.

"Well let's head over to the trace lab, I have to run that sample that Dr. Armstrong sent me, and then we can view the video tapes for the two missing cars." Ryan suggested.

"Fine, then afterwards, you can assist me with your Medical Examiner's findings, I want to see if I can confirm that if it was in fact members of the Tiger 6 gang that did those murders, and then I have to meet up Agent Song for a progress report." Agent Li stated

"Fine" Ryan answered.

"Fine, look let's try and make this work okay, I don't like it anymore than you do – that, and I'm not that bad to work with, just stubborn that's all." Angela added and smiled slightly.

"Ok, well let's see about you getting that lab pass." Ryan said before offering his hand for Angela to shake it.

"Let's go" Angela answered while shaking back Ryan's hand.

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**A/N Sorry it took a while to get this chapter up, hope you enjoyed it even though there hasn't been any action yet, but it's coming. The next chapter is already in the works, so hopefully it'll be up within the next couple of days. Reviews are greatly appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: So, I'm having some writer's block it seems on where to take the whole gang thing...err I know the outcome of everything but it's the details that I need to work on, but I'm sure something will come up. However, I'm open to any suggestions so please give me some feedback! In the meantime, enjoy! Oh sorry for the late update!

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Angela Li and Ryan Wolfe drove into the slum districts of Miami in order to meet up with Agent Edward Song. Since he was under cover, a meeting in a dark deserted alleyway was the only place they wouldn't be caught. During the drive there, both Angela and Ryan felt awkward towards each other and the uncomfortable silence in the car wasn't helping either. Ryan had to admit he was intrigued by Angela. She was strong, spoke her mind and professional; and though he would never realize it, she was in many ways a lot like him. That and her looks weren't bad either. However, Ryan knew better than to get involved with anyone in the lab. He learned a long time ago and from everyone around him that mixing business with pleasure was a bad idea. Besides, he liked keeping his life outside of the lab private and with the crazy hours he worked there was never enough time to have a relationship of any sort anyways. As soon as they reached their destination, Angela shut off the engine of her car and entered an abandoned warehouse while Ryan followed her inside. Agent Edward Song was of course already waiting inside and his appearance was anything but the image of a federal agent.

"Ed, how are you holding up?" Angela asked while she walked over to Agent Song.

"It could be worse, who's your friend?" Agent Song answered.

"This is CSI Ryan Wolfe, I'm sure Levi has kept you up to date on the situation" Angela responded, while Ryan arched his eye on the word "situation."

"Yeah, he sent me an encrypted email. So how exactly is the Miami-Dade crime lab supposed to help us?" Song asked sceptically while crossing his arms.

"Well for starters we're going to help cover up the DNA you left us at the crime scene. By the way, nice cut on your hand" Ryan answered bluntly while Song only smirked.

"The Miami-Dade police are assisting us with evidence so that we can build a solid case, and the sooner we close it the sooner you can start showering everyday again" Angela added.

"Yeah, I got that. I just don't see how they're going to cut off the head of the snake when we've been trying for months" Song rebutted.

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked

"The head of the Black Dragon gang is Chow Lee. Ed and the rest of us have been trying to build a case on him for months now. You name it, he's been behind it: embezzlement, fraud, illegal gambling and of course, murder." Angela listed.

"So basically by taking out the head of the BD gang you'll dissolve the whole organization? I don't see how that would work, there must be hundreds lined up to take his job" Ryan said.

"You'd think that, but from all the INTEL that we've gathered, Chow Lee rules his organization with an iron fist, he pretty much controls everything financial. Rumour has it, he's a computer genius and has developed a type of software which only allows him to access the BD's accounts – well, what's left of them anyways." Song answered.

"Okay, so what's keeping him from funnelling money into a private account and just disappearing then if his gang is in so much financial trouble?" Ryan asked.

"That's simple – ego. If it weren't for the Tiger 6 gang, the Black Dragons would still be one of the largest crime organizations in Hong Kong. But since the millennium the Tiger 6's have increased their financial holdings and have pretty much had a turf war with the BDs since" Angela answered.

"That, and Boss Chow Lee is a control freak. He has his generals and advisors in the organization but he has to have the last word on everything and has access and knowledge to everything and everyone" Song added.

"Ed has only been able to fly under the radar so far. He's still considered to be the lowest within the totem pole" Angela added as well.

"Okay, so what do you want our team to do to help then?" Ryan asked

"The bodies that your people found this morning were members of the BD gang that the Tiger 6 gang met up with last night to discuss a truce" Song began to explain.

"Some truce" Ryan added.

"Yeah well apparently, the Tiger 6's are having none of it. But it also means Lee must be getting desperate if he's actually willing to set up a meeting. Also, those 6 bodies you found were Lee's higher ranking officers, I was told to mutilate the bodies in order to prevent identification – let's just say that's an experience I never want to be a part of ever again." Edward explained.

"I still don't understand what you really want our team to do" Ryan stated while he raised his eyebrow. He already knew what Agent Song wanted from the team, but wanted clarification.

"We need you to find out who was at that meeting last night. We know it had to be members of the Tiger 6 gang, we just don't know who. If we find out who's responsible we could start throwing these guys in prison, where they belong" Song answered.

"Okay, we'll get on it" Ryan said.

"Great. Ryan would you mind waiting for me in the car? Angela asked.

"Yeah sure" Ryan answered as he walked towards Angela's car. He knew that the two colleagues probably wanted a word with one another without an outsider around them.

"He seems "nice." How long is he going to be your babysitter?" Edward asked sarcastically.

"Funny. Levi assigned me to liaison between us and the Miami-Dade crime lab. Besides, he not so bad, he's quite the professional, and he seems to know his stuff..." Angela began.

"Yeah, and not to mention he's kind of easy on the eyes" Edward added.

"So Ed, how are you really?" Angela asked ignoring what Edward had said.

"Well let's see, I've been showering once a week. I haven't slept for God knows how long, and I'm dressed like a dirty gang-banger. How do you think I feel?" Edward answered sarcastically.

"Ok, noted. Just hang in there. Hopefully with the help of MDPD we'll be able to get you out of this hell hole faster" Angela said.

"That's easier said than done. Anyways, I thought I'd give you a heads up. I heard on the rumour mill that members of the Black Dragon are growing increasingly restless since those six bodies were found. I mean we're talking about factions wanting to divide up, but they're too afraid to cause Chow Lee would hunt them down." Edward explained.

"I can see how they're all starting to freak out, considering 6 of Lee's high ranking officers are sitting in the Miami-Dade morgue right now" Angela added.

"Yeah, well anyways, I've got to get back to my second life before people get suspicious. I'll let you know if another BIG event happens" Song said before turning to head back towards his car.

"Thanks, keep me posted okay?" Angela asked.

"Will do." Song replied as he walked out the door.

Angela smiled as she headed towards her car. She Little did she know that by the time Edward had closed the door behind him outside, a hand came up from behind him and snapped his neck before he even had a chance to scream. ____________________________________________________________________________________

The next day, Angela had received a call from Ryan informing her that they had found another mutilated body inside a trash bin 8 blocks from where Angela and Ryan had their meeting with Agent Song. He also mentioned that it looked like another murder that was mob related. She didn't want to believe it, but on her way there, Angela knew that there was that possibility that it could be Edward's body. Angela's face suddenly became grief stricken as she pulled up to the area where the police had taped off. Almost immediately jumping out of her car, Angela ran over to where Ryan, Eric and Dr. Armstrong were and tried to control her breathing. However, Ryan saw her coming and immediately went over to Angela to stop her from obviously losing it.

"Who is it? Is it him? It is Edward?!" Angela asked panicky.

"The owners of the restaurant in front called it in this morning. It looks like this is a secondary crime scene; the murder occurred somewhere else" Ryan stated.

"You haven't answered my question!" Angela yelled causing Delko and Leslie to look up.

"Dr. Armstrong thinks that his neck was snapped, so he died instantly. Angela at least he didn't feel..." Ryan began to say, but Angela pushed him aside to get a better look and instantly regretted looking at Edward's deformed body. With tears wanting to coming out, Angela quickly suppressed them and looked away from the body. Ryan came up behind her while Dr. Armstrong stood up and walked towards where Angela was standing as well.

"It looks like the COD was a broken neck and the facial mutilation occurred post-mortem. I won't be able to i.d. the body until I get a sample to DNA – so we don't know for sure that it's Agent Song, Agent Li." Leslie stated, though she tried to sound sympathetic.

"It's him. He's wearing the same clothing as yesterday and he still has a fresh scab from the cut he got the other day." Ryan said.

"Okay, then. I'll get the body back to post. I'm sorry Agent Li." Leslie said.

"Thank you Dr., Edward wasn't just a good agent, he was a good friend. I'll call Daren, excuse me" Angela said while looking down. She then took out her cell phone and dialled Agent Levi's number while walking aside from the crime scene.

"Well I guess we're at a disadvantage now" Ryan said to Dr. Armstrong, while looking at Angela.

"They're on to us." And with that Ryan went to assist Delko.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Thanks to everyone who's been reading and commenting! Just a heads up, although Ryan is the central character in my story, I still wanted an episodic feel to the story so there will be lots of mention of the other CSI characters as well J Here's chapter 5...

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Ryan Wolfe immediately went back to the lab to process Agent Song's crime scene. He also wanted to know the status on the identification of the sticky substance he had found the other morning near the 6 bodies. But because the case load was becoming increasingly larger by the minute, Travers had taken over the identification of the mysterious substance found on the beach. Ryan also had to admit that having Angela there was also very beneficial since she was able to help in the lab. He was still waiting for Travers' results when he received a text from Calleigh stating that she and Delko had gone back to Agent Song's crime scene to process it further. Ryan then texted back and said that he and Angela would continue with more lab work. He also told Calleigh that they would be heading back to the warehouse where they had a meeting with Edward: the last place he was seen alive.

"Hey Michael, have you got the results to that sticky substance yet?" Ryan asked Travers.

"Yes I have. It contains malic acid, monoglycerides, gum base, salt, soy lecithin, sugar, colour and artificial flavour" Travers confidently told Ryan.

"It was candy?" Ryan asked surprisingly.

"Yes it was. But not just any kind, it's called Chi-Chi chews. It's a popular jelly candy in Hong Kong. Coincidentally, it's imported from there to here in Miami at a warehouse in Port Patrick." Travers answered confidently.

"So you're thinking that a gang could be using the warehouse as a base of operations?" Ryan asked.

"That is a possibility." Travers answered.

"That's great work! I'll call Tripp and Horatio and have a SWAT team sent down there to investigate. Hopefully, you just cracked the case. Thanks Travers." Ryan said as he took out his phone and began to walk away, but turned around almost immediately again as he had another question.

"Wait, what about DNA? Was there any signs that it was eaten?" Ryan asked.

"I checked, and there wasn't any DNA. The sample would have been too degraded by the sun and by its partial melting to pull a viable sample anyways." Travers answered Ryan.

"Ok, thanks again Travers." Ryan said as he headed out towards the lab again.

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Calleigh and Eric walked up to where Agent Song's body was found. Even though the crime scene had been processed already, they believed that Agent Song was killed elsewhere as not much evidence was found. They also wanted to see if there was any evidence that would determine Ryan's theory that Agent Song was murdered at the warehouse where they met. Calleigh and Delko decided for the time being that they would keep their relationship even lower key than usual. They figured that since the FBI were involved, and because of the importance of the case alone - they didn't want their already secretive relationship to ruin the integrity of the case. After combing through the alley a second time, they didn't find anything that wasn't already found the other day Agent Song's body was found. Eric already found tire tracks which he had already processed; it turned out that they belonged to a Dodge Minivan which didn't help since it was a common car that too many people owned. Afterwards, they decided to talk to the people who had called in the murder and walked to the front of the restaurant. Although Ryan had mentioned that the owner and his waiter didn't see anything suspicious the other day; he had also mentioned that they seemed almost too scared to say anything. With that, Calleigh and Eric decided that they would try and ask the owner again - thinking that they were too shaken up the other day to say anything. As they walked into the restaurant, the owner (a European man in his late 50s) looked up and suddenly became tense.

"Mr. Cavada, hello I'm CSI Duquesne and this is CSI Delko, we were just wondering if we could ask you some questions pertaining to the bodies you and your employee found the other...." Calleigh began to say.

"I have already told your officer everything; I have nothing more to say!" Mr. Cavada interrupted.

"Sir with all due respect, you seem anxious. Are you sure you told us everything you saw?" Eric asked.

"Yes, I have now leave! You are ruining my life and my business!" Mr. Cavada shouted. As he did that, Calleigh looked around and noticed that there was a pile of broken tables and chairs in a corner. She also noticed that Mr. Cavada had fresh bruises on the side of his neck and arms.

"Mr. Cavada, I noticed those bruises and some broken furniture over there on the corner. Can you tell us what happened?" Calleigh asked concern.

"I tripped." Mr Cavada said vaguely.

"Really? Because those bruises look as though someone would have grabbed you." Eric commented.

"You need to leave now; I have nothing more to say to you!" Mr. Cavada shouted again.

"Mr. Cavada, I hope you realize that we're trying to help. Are you being threatened in any sort of way?" Calleigh asked.

"No, like I said, I tripped!" Mr. Cavada answered angrily.

"Very well, Mr. Cavada, if you remember anything please call me" Eric said while giving Mr. Cavada his business card.

As they walked out Calleigh and Eric looked at each other with suspicion, as both knew what each other were thinking:

"He's hiding something." Eric stated.

"Yeah, I have a feeling that he may have seen something and someone doesn't want us finding out whom. I'm thinking they've threatened Mr. Cavada into not talking to us." Eric also added.

"We should keep an eye on him. See if anything turns up, but for the time being: it looks like we're stuck again." Calleigh said.

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Frank, Angela, Ryan and a team of SWAT officers quietly pulled up to the warehouse on Port Patrick. With everyone encircling the building, the gang members inside had no chance of running but some did have a chance of reaching for their weapons. A gun fight broke out as soon as the police broke through into the building. Ryan and Angela immediately ducked for cover, while Frank and the rest of the SWAT team spread out and returned fire. Bullets rained everywhere but it didn't last for long. The gang members who were armed were quickly shot down, while the others surrendered by lying on the ground with their hands on their heads. Angela and Ryan came out with their guns drawn and helped Frank and the other officers handcuff the remaining gang members.

"You okay?" Angela asked Ryan.

"Yeah, I'm good. You?" Ryan said.

"Fine. I'm going to call Daren and tell him that we might finally have a break in this case." Angela answered while pulling out her phone.

"Wolfe, look what I found here. These crates that are supposedly holding Chi-Chi Chews are half packed with firearms." Frank said while holding up what looked an assault rifle.

"So this is probably where they've been smuggling weapons. They mask them as candy to get clearance from customs, and they're probably shipping out the same ones that were stolen from us."** Ryan added

"I'll get these punks down to the station so we can start questioning them" Frank said.

"Great, I'll call Horatio. I'm thinking we should process everyone to see if they have a connection to the shootings at the pier."

"Agreed, you think your FBI tail will want in on this?" Frank asked.

"Most definitely." Angela answered while walking towards Ryan and Frank.

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Back at the lab, Calleigh, Delko, Ryan and Angela processed every gang member that was arrested, after they had processed the scene at the warehouse. They had swabbed DNA samples from everyone and had sent them to Natalia and Valera to run through CODIS. They also cross referenced those samples to Agent Song and the 6 Black Dragon members' murders:

"Miss Boa Vista, have you ran those DNA samples on those men from the warehouse?" Horatio asked.

"I'm running them now against the two cases. Wait a second..." Natalia began to say.

"I've got a hit. Dr. Armstrong had found epithelia around Agent Song's neck during his autopsy. And it looks like a match to one of our boys sitting in the holding cell right now: a Charles Lam. He looks kind of scary." Natalia added.

"I'll be the judge of that. Thank you Miss Boa Vista" Horatio said and headed off to interrogation.

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"Charles, would you care to explain why your DNA was found on the body of a federal agent?" Horatio asked while looking down at his glasses.

"I don't know." Charles answered emotionlessly, while Horatio continued to look down and gave a sly smile.

"Well let me tell you Charles, you were swift when you snapped his neck but you failed to wear gloves. You left skin cells around his neck and now you're going down for the murder of a federal agent. And believe me the DA won't look to kindly on that" Horatio stated flatly.

"You also forgot that bullets make unique striation patterns when they're fired. We tested all the weapons we seized from the warehouse and they're a match to the weapons the Russian mob stole from the Miami Dade Police a month ago. Your gang's going down for this Charles. This would be a perfect opportunity for you to try save your ass." Ryan said as he was also present for the interrogation.

"If you give us more information about your gang's weapons smuggling operation the DA could cut you a deal and give you a less of a sentence" Frank added.

"Please....I'm not stupid. I say anything - and I'm a dead man. And compared to the prisons in Hong Kong: the prisons here are practically like five star hotels. Just because you've taken down one of our operations doesn't mean we don't have others. You'll never stop us all. Besides, he had it coming; anyone should know better than to cross Chow Lee, because he is. Always. Watching. I'd be careful." Charles answered menacingly while looking at Wolfe.

"Get him out of my sight" Horatio ordered to the police officer while they dragged him out of the interrogation room, while Agent Li walked in.

"Well at least we've finally found out what happened to all of those weapons. It's unfortunate that we have another mob to worry about now that the Russian have basically fractionized since our last encounter with them." Ryan said.

"And we got Edward's killer; at least that counted for something." Angela added.

"Well I thought that that was a complete waste of time. He's never going to talk and did you see his body language?" Frank commented.

"I did. He's been taught well – a loyal soldier to the core, or so he says." Horatio added.

"What do you mean by that, H?" Frank asked.

"He's not talking because he's afraid of Chow Lee. Agent Song was right we need to take him down in order to take the whole organization down." Horatio answered.

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A/N: **is a reference to "Seeing Red"

A/N: Next chapter will be more exciting I promise...and Ryan will run into some trouble (about time I say!)


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Thanks for the comments again everyone! I love receiving them, so don't be shy! Here's Chapter 6 and a bit more Ryan this time. And let me affirm again that this will NOT be a romance fic. Again, they're great, but I feel that there are too many of them out there. Rather, I want to focus more on Ryan building on his relationships with everyone else and of course the case.

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"_Is everything still going according to plan?" Chow Lee asked._

"_Yes it is. They've managed to disassemble the base of operations at Port Patrick. Why would you let them do that?"_

"_It was part of my plan all along. Those guns the Russians had dealt us were worthless since they were all traceable. I only agreed to the purchase because it was a good diversion." Chow Lee answered coolly._

"_I hope you're right. Just make sure that none of this can be traced back to me alright? Caine is relentless. He's determined to get to the bottom of everything and is already suspecting that there's something bigger that's going on. He won't stop until you're taken out of the picture so heads up."_

"_Let me worry about Horatio Caine and his team. You told me that there are only a select people working on the case against us, correct?" Chow Lee asked._

"_Yes, why do you ask? You're not thinking of targeting them are you? That's way too risky. My superiors will know that there's a mole amongst us and it won't be hard to figure out whom when you eliminate the people that are involved in this."_

"_Stop panicking. I have no intention of targeting each of Horatio Caine's team." Chow Lee answered. _

"_Then how exactly are you going to stop them from figuring out that I'm involved in all of this? There's way too much at stake here - not to mention your own organization when they find out what you're doing to them."_

"_Even if or when they do, it'll already be too late. Don't worry. We have everything to gain from this and nothing to lose. Just continue on as plan and don't let anyone suspect your involvement." Chow Lee assured._

"_Okay, I'll keep you posted on the situation. You just need to tell me your next move so I can be ready for it."_

"_I will Agent." Chow Lee answered and hung up the phone._

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With the body count getting higher and higher, the team had their hands full and were now working overtime. Stetler had put all of the cases that Horatio's team were working on prior to the present one on hold. Nothing was to be done until Chow Lee was taken down. The fact that the Black Dragon organization was responsible for buying the guns that were stolen from the Russians really angered Stetler. It already looked incredibly bad for the MDPD force, as the brass thought that they were unable to handle the affairs of foreign crime organizations let alone the ones closer to home. Meanwhile, Ryan Wolfe was busy in the AV lab trying to pin point any other locations that the Black Dragon had a base of operations. Luckily, the raid of at the Port Patrick warehouse also produced cell phones and laptops that could be used to trace the locations between gang members who were sending messages to one another. Ryan was busy compiling a list of places that had the same location via IP addresses when Angela walked in, presumably wanting an update.

"Hey Wolfe so how's the list coming along?" Angela asked.

"It's a pretty big list. I've got at least 20 places here that Black Dragon members have been calling back and forth on, texting, and e-mails. I think we may have finally cracked the case. The only problem is that we don't know if any of these places will lead to the whereabouts of Chow Lee. Where were you anyhow?" Ryan said while he continued cross referencing his list.

"I was just making a personal call." Angela said with a small smile.

"K, well, this is going to take a while. I've managed to download all the devices into our systems. It's just a matter of sorting through it." Ryan said.

"Well as soon as you finish compiling, I'll call Daren and we can start taking down some of those places. With the MDPD SWAT and Bureau personal we should be able to take these people down quicker." Angela added.

"I'll talk to Horatio first see how we should go about it. We've got to be tactful about this." Ryan answered.

"We shouldn't be wasting any more time. Chow Lee is a very smart man, he'll figure out what's about to happen, and he'll want to move his bases before we can get to him." Angela said while she could feel herself becoming anxious.

"We'll just have to have an upper hand above him then. Besides, it's not your call." Ryan said as he started to become annoyed with Angela's impatience.

"I'm sorry, I just don't want any more people to die - mainly, any more of my agents." Angela added.

"I know. I'm starting to get tired of this. I haven't had a moment's rest in days" Ryan stated.

"What time is it?" Angela asked

"Around 1:30 pm, why?" Ryan asked.

"I'm thinking of grabbing a bite to eat, have you had lunch yet?" Angela asked.

"No actually, I've been at this list since this morning. There are a lot of phones, and laptops to get through still. But I could use a break; want to go get something to eat?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, I'm starving. Let's go out though, I feel like an outsider in this place" Angela said.

"I know the feeling. K, let's go" Ryan said before shutting down his work.

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Ryan and Angela chose to have lunch a local eatery that had a patio outside. And since it was such a nice day, they decided that some fresh air would do them good since they had been stuck in the lab for what seemed like forever. However, both being as private as they were, Angela and Ryan ate in silence at first, but Ryan felt awkward and decided to be the first one to talk. He had to admit Angela had an icy and tough demeanour, but after working with her for a while, she wasn't all that bad.

"So, how long have you been an agent?" Ryan asked.

"Um, it's been a few years. Like I told you the other day, I did originally want to become a criminalist, but I thought that I could do more as an agent" Angela said.

"How so?" Ryan asked.

"If I tell you, would you mind keeping it to yourself?" Angela asked.

"Yeah, sure." Ryan answered.

"I'm adopted. My parents died in car crash when I was 3 and my younger brother and I were sent to live in an orphanage in Hong Kong." Angela began sadly.

"You were born there?" Ryan asked.

"Yes I was. I was eventually adopted by my foster parents here in America so I am a citizen. My brother was adopted by another family back home so he stayed there. I knew that I was adopted growing up seeing as my foster parents are both white, but I didn't find out what happened to my parents until later. I also didn't know I had a brother until my final year in college." Angela said then continued:

"He was raised by good people, so I guess we were both lucky. I had gotten in touch with him via email and phone calls a few years back and was even thinking about going over there to reunite with him." Angela said.

"Was?" Ryan commented on that one word.

"He was on his way home from class and decided to stop a convenient store for something to drink, when out of nowhere these people came in and robbed it. I guess they didn't want any witnesses because they shot him in the head at point blank range. He was only 24." Angela said sadly.

"I'm sorry that happened. But why not be a criminalist though? You'd still be helping victims." Ryan said.

"I'm sure you heard that I have a personal interest in this case correct?" Angela asked.

"Yeah" Ryan answered.

"Well that's because those people who robbed that convenient store and killed my brother were members of the Black Dragon gang. That's why I became an agent. The Black Dragons are internationally based so the feds were all over them to begin with. I want to be able to bring these guys down so that no one has to lose anyone they care about anymore." Angela said passionately.

"I'm sorry about your brother Angela." Ryan said as Angela smiled.

"So, enough about my "sad" little life story, what's yours?" Angela asked as she took another bite of her sandwich.

"Me? Well I grew up in Massachusetts, had a pretty normal childhood...uh I'm the middle child in my family. I went to Boston College and joined the police academy after that. I spent a few years on patrol but I had always wanted to become a criminalist, and here I am today." Ryan answered, though his answers were fairly vague.

"No bumps along the way?" Angela asked suspiciously.

"Well there have been "bumps", I'm just not particularly proud of them" Ryan said as he looked down. He hoped that Angela would change the subject soon, since this one was making him feel uncomfortable.

"I have a confession Wolfe. I wanted to make sure that my team and I could trust yours so I looked at your personal files." Angela said as Ryan looked up trying not to look as pissed as he felt.

"Isn't that unethical?" Ryan said rhetorically with his eyebrow raised.

"Well I just told you my history so I guess that makes us even then doesn't it. Don't worry; I don't judge people until I actually know them. Besides, you've seemed to have done well since...well you know."** Angela said trying to be reassuringly, while looking apologetic. She did feel bad for looking at their files, but she needed to know everything she could about Horatio and his team.

"Thanks. You're not so bad either" Ryan said in the most "Ryan matter-of-fact way" possible.

While Ryan and Angela were waiting for the bill to come a man in a business suit had walked into the restaurant and knocked over Ryan's jacket, spilling out his wallet, because he wasn't watching where he was going. He apologized, picked up the jacket and wallet from Ryan and went about his ways. Little did they know, the man in the business suit had taken out Ryan's security clearance card when he picked the wallet up. When he walked away from their table, he smiled smugly and thought about the plans that were ahead.

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_After another phone conversation with his "informant", Boss Chow Li entered into a silent room before 6 more leaders of his Black Dragon gang, and looked at each of them before he gave his address:_

"_I am here tonight not as your leader, but as one of your brothers. Today, our great organization has been threatened by the Miami Dade Police. And with that, we must avenge the honour which was taken from us. Right now, I have been informed by my sources that the Miami-Dade Police Crime Lab has stolen incriminating evidence from us and are threatening to destroy what we have accomplished these many past years. Therefore, I ask you - my brothers as to what we should do to stop them." Boss Chow Li addressed._

"_Is there any way of retrieving what incriminates us?" Leader Wong asked._

"_There is not, my informants tell me that there are a limited amount of people who are building a case against us, and therefore are the only ones who have access to the evidence, which remains heavily guarded within their lab" Chow Li answered._

"_Well, if they are building a case against as we speak, wouldn't they be looking at all this supposed evidence right now then?" Leader Wu asked, and at that moment the others knew exactly what they were thinking while they all smiled evilly at what they knew they had to do to stop the Horatio Caine and his team._

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After lunch Ryan returned to the lab by himself, while Angela decided to go back to the bureau to update Daren and the rest of her team on everything. Ryan also sensed that Angela was probably feeling uncomfortable about the conversation they had during lunch. At a deeper level, Ryan could relate to what Angela must have felt like her entire life. They were both essentially outsiders. Angela was one because she had no biological family left. Ryan was one because he was always trying to prove that he was good criminalist, and because he was the screw-up who almost lost everything he worked so hard to achieve because of a gambling addiction. Ryan absentmindedly walked into a lab room with his laptop and continued compiling the list of possible Black Dragon Gang locations when Delko walked in:

"Hey Wolfe, how's that list coming along?" Delko asked

"Pretty slow unfortunately: I'm now up to 30 possible base locations, but nothing substantial. Angela told me that Chow Lee is quite the narcissist so he would want to run things from a large base. He's also quite a computer whiz, so I'm assuming he would want to oversee his organization via networking. But I haven't found evidence of anyone contacting him. This guy's good at hiding, but according to the FBI he's here in Miami somewhere." Ryan answered.

"Well let's hope your list finds something. Anyways, Calleigh and I went back to the warehouse where you and Agent Li had a meeting with Agent Song, and we found the same tire tracks outside the back door where he left as the ones out back at the restaurant. Frank's also keeping a close eye out for the restaurant owner. You were right; he's definitely hiding something because he wouldn't talk to us. We think he's being threatened by the triads." Delko explained.

"Well I guess our big break has gotten us no where again." Ryan said disappointedly.

"Anyways, Angela should be back soon I'll update her and have her try and get the gang members we have in the holding cell to talk, but I'm thinking they won't" Ryan added.

"Yeah, sounds like a good plan. I'll get Frank to canvas the areas Agent Song was last seen to see if that minivan turns up. It could lead us somewhere. So uh, you and Agent Li are on a first name basis now?" Delko said then teased.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Ryan asked as he looked up from his computer screen.

"Oh come on, the fact that she's kind of attractive and is driven hasn't caught your attention? You always had a thing for aggressive women" Delko said.

"Eric, we're in the middle of a case right now. Besides, (from personal experience) the whole office romance thing isn't exactly my cup of tea. But no offense to you" Ryan said while he implied he knew about Eric and Calleigh's relationship.

"Ok, ok, hint taken. I'll talk to you later." Eric laughed and said, then walked out.

Ryan smiled but rolled his eyes as soon as he knew Eric was gone. "Some guys just never change" he thought. Hopefully, Calleigh wouldn't find out that Eric still kind of had a wandering eye. Ryan also secretly enjoyed the fact that he had the one thing Eric seemed not to have and that was self control. After a couple of hours Ryan was still looking intently at the computer screen and was not happy about it. In fact, he decided to close the glass door of the lab room in order for it to be quiet enough for him to concentrate. He did however; hear very loud screams outside the room and the very distinct word **"GUN!"** before looking up into a masked man who simultaneously opened fired to where Ryan was standing before he had a chance to duck.

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A/N: And there you have it! I know it's a cliffy but that's what makes it exciting right? Any guesses to who the mole is or is it too obvious?

Note: **Is a reference to Ryan's gambling addiction.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Here's Chapter 7 Hope you guys enjoy! I love all of your comments; they're so encouraging. Someone also mentioned that I've been making some grammar/punctuation mistakes – sorry about that, I'm just incredibly lazy and I'll maybe check things over once before posting. I'll try to check things over a little more from now on, but no guarantees. So you may just have to ignore the mistakes a make. Thanks again!

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The next hour at the Miami Dade Crime Lab was absolute chaos. Lab technicians, CSIs and police officers were running everywhere trying to grasp what had happened. With the lab compromised, Horatio had set up a temporary command centre outside with the help of the FBI. He had no idea what happened inside the lab, other than several masked men had entered the building from the loading dock in the back and had opened fire on his people. He had no idea where anyone was at this point. He also didn't know if there were anymore shooters still in the building, but one this was for sure: they weren't coming out. Horatio had the entire building on lock-down while the SWAT was in position, waiting. Devi Levi and his team had rushed to the scene as soon as they heard what had happened. Agent Steven Trate from Levi's team was the team's audio and visual expert so he started reviewing the surveillance cameras in the lab during the attack. So far, they knew that at around 10 men had entered from the back, disabled the cameras and then rode up the elevators, and began firing as soon as the doors opened. According to Agent Trate, three of the masked men had been killed inside whereas the other 7 could haveescaped since the shooting had happened so fast, or were still inside. Within a matter of minutes, news vans were already stationed outside of the barrier, while large tents were being simultaneously put up to shield the media. Although Horatio wasn't showing it, he desperately wanted to know where his team was. He also wanted to find out what exactly was going on and why those masked men were in the crime lab to begin with. He gave a sigh of relief as soon as he saw Calleigh and Eric walking towards him, while Natalia and Valera came from another direction, also running towards him.

"Horatio, thank God we found you, what the hell happened?" Natalia said out of breath.

"We're trying to figure that out right now. Were you able to get out okay?" Horatio asked each of them.

"Yeah, it was frantic in there. Everyone was running around, but a lot of us were able to get out. There are a lot injured or worse." Eric added.

"Lieutenant, I have an update for you." Agent Trate called.

"What do you have?" Horatio asked.

"Besides three dead masked men, it looks like the rest of them got out. Although, I don't know how. All except one: you see, he's here walking around your lab right now (they didn't disable all of the cameras). My guess is he's trying to see who is left alive since it'll be his only way out. And from the looks of it, the others abandoned him when the lab went on lock-down." Trate explained.

"Hold on, oh my God it's Travers!" Calleigh said as she pointed to Travers on the screen. It looked as though he was injured but not badly.

"He looks hurt. Horatio we need to get him out!" Valera said.

"We can't right now. That guy in there is acting erratic. We could be endangering your man if we rush in. We have to access the situation further." Agent Levi said.

"Wait a minute. Where's Ryan?" Calleigh asked as he looked around for any sign of Ryan.

"The last time I saw him, he was in a lab room compiling a list of locations the Black Dragon gang could have a possible base of locations at." Eric answered concerned.

"He could still be in there." Horatio said.

"We have to go in there. He could be injured as well." Natalia said with a worried face.

"Rushing in their now is too dangerous. Just let my men finish accessing first!" Daren interjected.

"To hell with that! Travers and possibly Ryan are still in there, we can't just leave them with a guy and a gun inside!" Eric argued angrily. Then Calleigh tactfully said:

"The information he was working on was highly classified, if it got into the wrong hands, our entire case could be compromised" Calleigh said as Daren thought for a second and looked up.

"I'm going in Daren." Horatio said.

"I'll have your back." Eric said.

"Fine. But I'm coming in also." Daren answered.

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Horatio, Eric, Daren and a couple of SWAT team members entered the crime lab slowly and quietly with their guns drawn. They knew that there was still at least one more shooter still in the building, and were hoping that they could bring him down alive in order to find out what had happened. They carefully wove through the transparent hallways of the lab, ducking so that they wouldn't be seen, or shot. Their first stop was the trace lab where Michael Travers was last seen on video possibly injured.

"Travers! Are you OK? Oh my God you're bleeding; we need to get him out of here!" Eric said in a loud whisper.

"It's not too bad, it's just my arm. Are the others okay?" Michael asked.

"We don't know if everyone managed to make it out in time, we'll keep going. Come on, we need to get you out of here!" Eric answered. With that, one of the SWAT team members took Travers arms over his shoulder to lean on and they went off while Horatio, Eric and Daren continued looking for Ryan. Eric suggested that they head over to the lab where Ryan was last seen. Horatio and Daren agreed, and began to walk towards the lab room. What they saw when they finally got there would be seared into their memories for the rest of their lives. There was blood spread across the glass wall, and a blood pool that seem to come from behind the counter. Horatio slowly walked up to the counter, fearing what he would find behind it when he got there. When he did, he immediately upholstered his gun so that he could check if Ryan was still breathing. He was, but there was barely a pulse. Ryan, who sensed that someone was touching him, very weakly opened his eyes and saw that it was Horatio. He wanted say something, but immediately passed out. Horatio saw that Ryan had a through and a through in his right shoulder, a bullet wound in his chest, which he assumed was lodged in his lung and another in his stomach. The sight made him sick, but he knew that he had to act quickly or else Ryan wouldn't make it.

"Mr. Wolfe, hold on we're going to get you out of here." Horatio said reassuringly while he (with the help of Eric) carefully turned Ryan over onto his back and then in a sitting position. Horatio then carefully took off Ryan's lab coat so that they could use it to add pressure to his wounds. Afterwards, Eric gently wrapped Ryan's left arm over his shoulder and lifted him, while Horatio lifted Ryan's legs since he was too heavy for one person to carry alone.

"It looks like this attack was planned." Daren said while pointing to Ryan's computer which displayed a "FILES ERASED" sign.

"They knew that Ryan was working on the case and came to stop him." Eric said

"Well it looks like that the only way that they would know is if someone told him." Horatio said. Just then, a stream of bullets sprayed across the room and everyone ducked. The shooter had found them, and wasn't about to let them get away alive it seemed. Luckily, all three of them were armed so they were able to defend themselves if need be.

"Federal Agent! Cease fire now! The building is surrounded and my men are ready to move in. If you want to get out of this alive, drop your gun on the floor, lie down and put your hands behind your head!" Daren said, trying to take control of the situation. But there was no change - the masked man continued firing like the desperate madman he was. However, it stopped for a brief second, as he had run out of bullets and had reached in his vest to reload his gun. Horatio saw this as an opportunity and got up with his gun drawn:

"Stop what you're doing right now." Horatio said in a calm voice.

However, the masked man didn't listen as he snapped the bullet clip into his gun and pointed the gun towards Horatio. It was not fast enough, as Horatio pulled his trigger and shot a fatal wound into the masked man's head. It was all over, as Horatio breathed a sigh a relief, but quickly turned his attention to Ryan who was still bleeding badly. Together, He and Eric carried Ryan quickly out of the building while Daren made sure the area was clear. As soon as they got outside and into a clear area, Horatio shouted: "I have a man down! I need paramedics now!" Calleigh, Natalia, and Valera immediately ran up to where the paramedics were placing Ryan on a stretcher and were in complete shock when they saw the state Ryan was in. As time was running out, Ryan was put into the ambulance while Eric climbed in wanting to go with Ryan. He told Horatio that he wanted to go and make sure that Ryan was okay and to check on the others who were brought to the hospital as well. However, Horatio knew that Eric was worried for Ryan. As the ambulance drove off afterwards, the team was still in shock while they looked ahead, while Horatio looked down at his blood soaked clothes and hands.

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Eric thought that it was déjà vu all over again when the ambulance had reached Dade General, and a team of ER doctors headed straight for Ryan's stretcher. Eric was asked to wait outside, while Ryan was rushed into a room, so Eric decided to see if there was any news yet on Travers. It turned out that he was okay, but his arm was broken and was taken into to surgery to repair it. Eric's brief sigh of relief was met another moment of uneasiness as Alexx Woods rushed towards him:

"Eric! I just heard, what happened?" Alexx asked concernedly while holding Eric's arm and noticed the blood on him.

"A bunch of shooters came into the building and opened fire on us, Alexx." Eric said glumly.

"Oh my God! Is anyone hurt?" Alexx said after she covered her mouth with her hands.

"Some were, but they're being treated. Travers is in surgery right now he was shot in the arm, but nothing serious. Ryan's in there. They won't tell me anything. Alexx it's bad. He's been hurt really bad." Eric said while he pointed towards the room they had taken Ryan in.

"Ok, Eric come here and sit down. You're in shock. I'm going to go check on Ryan" Alexx answered calmly, while guiding Eric to a chair. And although she was putting on a brave face, inside she was sick with worry. She couldn't believe that Ryan was injured at what was supposed to be one of the safest places in Miami.

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_Inside the ER room:_

"_Male 29, three GSWs in total. One through and through in the right shoulder, right lung and stomach; upper quad! Call surgery now!"_

"_BP 90 over 50! Start a central line!"_

"_Ten-Blade!"_

"_He needs more blood, send for more units now!"_

"_Bag him!"_

"_V-Tach! He has no pulse – D-VIB!"_

"_Charge to 200, Clear!"_

"_No pulse"_

"_250! Clear!"_

"_Still no change"_

"_300! Clear!"_

"_We've got a pulse!" _

"_He needs to go up now!"_

"_Okay, let's go!"_

Alexx tried to assist the ER team as much as she could, but ended up freezing as she saw the injuries Ryan had sustained. She was angry at herself for not being able to help Ryan like she had helped Calleigh when she came in. But it was what it was, Alexx then headed upstairs to surgery.

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"You said you weren't going to target Caine's team!"

"I said that I wasn't to target EACH of Caine's team. I never said anything about not going after them all at once. Besides, I thought you'd be happy. Those files that CSI was compiling are erased now, so there's no way they'll find anything connecting you to me." Chow Lee answered smugly.

"Are you kidding me? Caine is more furious than ever. You know how protective he is of his people. Just lay low for a little just until the heat's off. He already knows you're behind the attack, and I can't keep talking to you like this. I almost got caught the other day, and people are starting to suspect with all the time I'm spending on the phone."

"Relax, I'll take care of everything. Right now, it's important for you to throw the suspicion around. I need more time to get "settled" in with my new position anyways." Chow Lee answered.

"OK, but what was the point of destroying those file's anyways? I thought you wanted to destroy your own organization."

"I will, just not yet. I still need time to transfer what's left of Dragon's finances over. And enough so that my advisors won't suspect anything until it's too late. Besides, think of this as the perfect opportunity for you to offer Caine and his team your offices as a command center. This way, you'll be able to keep an eye on him. By the way, I still need to get rid of my advisors, any suggestions?" Chow Lee asked.

"You might as well use your new organization to take them out; you're at war with them anyways."

"Yes, but this time I'm on the winning side. I'll have them assassinated within a week's time. I hope Caine's not to preoccupied with his injured CSIs because his body count is about to get a whole lot higher." Chow Lee said evilly.

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After several hours, the crime lab was cleared of shooters, having assumed that the ones that made it out had gotten away somehow. Ironically, the crime lab was now a crime scene and all of his people were working round the clock to collect all the evidence that was compromised and as well as to process the lab for any clues as to who had shot Ryan and Travers. Angela was nowhere to be seen, while Horatio continued on at his temporary command center. He received an update from Eric stating that Travers had gotten out of surgery and was recovering, while Ryan was still in surgery in serious condition. He wanted to be there for his people, but Horatio knew that standing around at a hospital wasn't going to do any good for anyone. What he needed to do was find out who did this and bring them down. One thing was for sure, he knew that the Black Dragons were responsible for the attack. For one thing, the three dead shooters were revealed to be Asian and all bore the dragon tattoo on their shoulder according to Dr. Armstrong. He also knew that there was a mole amongst them, but at that moment he didn't know who or what their reasoning was to be involve with something like that. Just then, Angela finally appeared and walked up to Horatio.

"Lieutenant, I'm sorry – I was in the field in a dead zone area. I just heard. What the hell happened?" Angela asked.

"Agent Li, the BD Gang just attacked my people. Travers and Ryan were shot, and my lab has just become a crime scene." Horatio calmly said.

"Oh my God, are they alright?" Angela asked.

"Travers is okay, but Ryan is in critical condition. Agent Li, where were you exactly?" Horatio asked suspiciously.

"I was chasing a lead. One of places that Ryan had on his list was another old warehouse where they used to make electronics. I thought Chow Lee was using it for his computer expertise. It ended up to be abandoned. There hasn't been anyone there in months." Angela answered.

"I see. Well thank you for coming back." Horatio said.

"Anything I can do to help. Look, the media's all over this. I figure since we're working this case together, you might as well have the best resources available to you right now since you're lab's shut down. Why don't you use the bureau offices? That way, the media's not flying over head trying to get publicity shots and not to mention it's a whole lot quieter." Angela offered.

"That would be very helpful. Thank you Agent Li." Horatio answered.

"Great. Just let me run it by the Daren and the Director." Angela said as she took out her cell phone to dial the call. Horatio looked on.

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**A/N: I had no idea what kind of medical lingo is used so I ended up watching a bunch or ER episodes to find out. Needless to say I still have no idea what I was typing :P Just assume that Ryan's condition is not good. And in case you haven't figured it out, Chow Lee has pretty much taken over the Tiger 6 gang, but how is whole other story. There's more to come, and some Ryan/hospital scenes so stay tuned! Thanks for reading again. :)


	8. Chapter 8

Here's chapter 8 – I hope you like. This chapter won't have a whole lot of action and is a bit angsty, but still juicy nonetheless!

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After Horatio and his team had finished setting up at the FBI quarters, he went to Dade General to get an update on Ryan. By that time, the rest of the team had joined Eric and were waiting anxiously for Ryan to come out of surgery. Alexx had been fortunate enough to be able to observe Ryan's surgery and gave the team updates on his progress. So far, it was not good. Ryan had drained 12 units of blood and still needed more. Eric and the others readily volunteered to donate whatever blood they could, while the doctors frantically continued to operate on Ryan. Horatio walked into the waiting room where the others were and was immediately greeted by Alexx who updated him on Ryan's condition. After what was probably hours since Ryan was rushed into surgery, a doctor came out looking sweaty and exhausted. The team wasted no time rushing towards the doctor, asking how Ryan was.

"People please; is there anyone here that is a family member of Ryan Wolfe?" The Surgeon asked.

"No, they're still on their way from out of state. However, I'm his supervisor: Lieutenant Caine and am working on the case regarding the shooting at the crime lab. Could you please tell us about Officer Wolfe's condition?" Horatio asked in a monotone voice.

"Very well then: Mr. Wolfe suffered massive blood loss from his gunshot wounds. He also had a renal laceration but we were able to repair it. There was also a complication during surgery while we were repairing the GSW which punctured his lung. He's currently unable to breathe on his own so we had to hook him up to a ventilator. He's still in critical condition and is being moved to the ICU right now. I'm sorry." The Surgeon said solemnly.

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Because of Ryan's condition, the doctors had limited one visitor at a time to Ryan's room. Eric was the first to go into the room, where an unconscious Ryan laid. There were several machines and IV's hooked up to him, while the soft buzzing and beeping of machines monitored his heart rate. Although most people in these situations would say that the patient looked as if they were just sleeping, Eric felt the exact opposite as he looked at Ryan. His complexion was incredibly pale and along with a breathing tube, Ryan looked anything but peaceful. In fact, he looked like he was pain even though he wasn't awake to feel it. Eric sat with him for a while in silence. He thought about their 5 years as co-workers at the Miami-Dade lab and how their relationship was always at arm's length. There had been several times Eric thought that Ryan had been too cocky for his own good, and there were also times where he seemed to always want to outshine everyone on the team. But as he looked at Ryan now, he thought about those times, and realized that Ryan hadn't really acted that way in a long time. In fact, Eric now knew that Ryan was like that in the beginning only because he was the "newbie" and wanted to prove himself. Hell, Eric was like that himself when he first started at the lab, so he shouldn't be the one to judge. As he got up to leave, Eric turned around and reassuringly touched Ryan's shoulder. He then simply said: "I'm sorry Ryan. And don't you worry; we'll find out who did this."

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Although they were all reluctant to leave, Horatio and the rest of the team knew that they all needed to get back to the case. Before they went, they said goodbye to Alexx and Travers, who in turn, promised to keep them updated on Ryan's status if anything would change. Horatio and Eric headed back to their temporary lab at the Bureau, as Calleigh and Natalia went to the crime lab to process the room Ryan was shot. Angela was already at the Dade-Crime lab waiting for Calleigh and Natalia when they arrived. In fact, Angela was already processing the crime scene when Calleigh and Natalia walked into the room.

"Hey, I'm glad you guys made it out okay. How's Ryan?" Angela asked.

"Thanks Angela. Ryan just got out of surgery and he's still critical." Calleigh answered, while Angela nodded.

"Well, let's catch these guys that did this then shall we?" Angela said.

"Okay, what have you got so far?" Calleigh asked.

"So far I've found blood spatter on the walls and blood pools on the floor over here, which I'm assuming is Ryan's. It would indicate that he was standing around this area before he was shot. And take a look at this: from what you guys told me, Ryan was working on his laptop right? Well, why would it be turned around the opposite way if Ryan was standing behind the counter?" Angela asked rhetorically.

"You're thinking his shooter turned the laptop around when he deleted Ryan's files aren't you?" Calleigh answered smiling with hope.

"Exactly and there could be some possible prints." Angela answered.

"I'll start dusting right away." Natalia said optimistically.

"Do you have anything else?" Calleigh asked Angela.

"So far that's all I've got. But I figured since I'm not the criminalist, you guys can fill in the blanks" Angela said.

"For not being a criminalist, you sure know the basics of one" Calleigh said as she looked down.

"Alright, well I hope you don't mind, but I've already had Ryan's computer downloaded so that Trate can start recovering those files that were deleted off his computer." Angela added.

"You touched the laptop?" Calleigh asked surprisingly.

"I was careful." Angela defended.

"Alright, I guess we'll see you back at the lab then." Natalia said.

"Will do – Oh, and let me know how Ryan's doing okay?" Angela said on her way out.

"I don't know about you, but I get this weird vibe around her." Calleigh said after Angela had left.

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Luckily the morgue was the first place that was cleared at the lab so Dr. Armstrong didn't have to move all of her cadavers elsewhere. Not that she would know what to do with them anyways since there were already so many bodies in the morgue, and with the current case, the body count was only getting higher. She was now working overtime with the addition of the 4 shooters that had shot up the crime lab. She had called down Horatio a little while ago and had some new information for him that would tell him a little more about the shooting.

"Dr. Armstrong, you wanted to see me?" Horatio asked.

"Yes Lieutenant, I found some information that I thought would help you with your case." Leslie said.

"What have you got?" Horatio said in his monotone voice while leaning in towards Dr. Armstrong's laptop.

"I wanted to see if one of the 4 deceased shooters was the one who shot Officer Wolfe, so I had the lab compose a virtual simulation of the shooting. And I've concluded that based on the directionality of the bullets, the shooter who shot Wolfe is 6'0" foot. None of these men on my table are that tall Lieutenant." Leslie said while showing the simulation to Horatio on her computer.

"So he's still out there isn't he Dr.?" Horatio asked

"I'm afraid so lieutenant." Leslie answered

"I see a familiar piece of artwork on their shoulders." Horatio said as he looked at the 4 dead bodies on Armstrong's table.

"Yeah, they're all Black Dragon gang members Lieutenant." Leslie answered.

"Alright good work Dr. Please keep me posted" Horatio said as he pulled out his cell phone to make a call.

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Calleigh, Eric and Natalia walked into an empty at the Dade-Lab and found Horatio standing there waiting for them. He had called them earlier and said that he wanted to speak to them privately.

"Thank you for coming." Horatio said while he looked down at his sunglasses in his hands.

"Sure, no problem H, so what is it that you wanted to talk to us about?" Eric asked.

"I called each of you down here because I wanted to let you know that I believe that there is someone who is leaking information to the Black Dragon's about us." Horatio explained.

"That makes complete sense now. I mean how else would they have known what Ryan was working on and deleted it when they shot him." Eric added.

"Well needless to say I trust the three of you and ONLY the three of you. Just keep your eyes and ears open for anyone who seems suspicious." Horatio said.

"Well, I won't be afraid to say it then. I don't trust Agent Li." Calleigh said, and then continued:

"Don't you find it suspicious that she's always on her phone and always happens to not be around when something bad is going on?" Calleigh asked as she raised her eyebrows.

"I agree with you Calleigh" Horatio said surprising the others with the statement.

"However, we have to be absolutely sure. Keep an eye on her." Horatio then added.

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Back at the hospital Alexx had checked on Ryan every 20 minutes to see if his status had changed. It hadn't. She was on her way making her rounds when she saw the familiar face of Frank Tripp walking towards her direction. Although the moment was bittersweet, Alexx couldn't help but smile at Frank.

"Well, well aren't you a sight for sore eyes." Alexx said before giving the bigger man a hug.

"Hey Alexx, it's been a while, how are you? Tripp asked returning the hug.

"I'm well and yourself? How are the kids?" Alexx answered.

"They're good, thank you Alexx." Tripp said, but was also looking at Alexx reluctantly.

"Let me guess, you're here on official business aren't you?" Alexx asked.

"I wish me coming here was under different circumstances." Tripp answered.

"It's about Ryan isn't it?" Alexx asked.

"Yeah, I need the bullets that were extracted from him during surgery." Frank answered solemnly.

"I'll get them for you, have you been in to see Ryan yet?" Alexx said then asked.

"I haven't" Tripp answered.

"Well there's no time like the present." Alexx answered back, while Tripp sighed.

"Look Alexx, it has nothing to do with Wolfe, I'm just not comfort........" Tripp began

"Frank, that boy needs all the support he can get right now. He's lying in that room fighting for his life!" Alexx said sternly to Tripp.

"He's not conscious, Alexx. Besides, I think the best way to help him right now is to catch the bastard that shot him. Now I need those bullets, the one that went through him broke into a million pieces when it hit a metal column. Calleigh needs something that she can possibly match a gun to." Tripp said sternly.

"Fine, I'll be right back." Alexx said disappointedly.

After Alexx had left to go retrieve the bullets, Frank thought about what Alexx had said. And although he would never admit it, it had struck a nerve. Before he knew it, Frank was on his way towards the ICU. When he got there however, he saw a crowd of doctors rushing into Ryan's room. On instinct, Frank grabbed an orderly who was running towards the room and demanded to know what was going on.

"The patient was stable a minute ago and now he's crashing, let go of me I have to do my job!" The orderly said before shaking off Tripp's hand violently.

_-_

_-_

_3 minutes ago..._

_Without anyone noticing, he walked into the ICU room where CSI Wolfe was staying. Once he was inside, he closed the door behind him and then the curtains. He realized that time was of the essence, so with a breath he turned off the ventilator machine. He looked over at CSI Wolfe's unconscious form before leaving, and knew that Wolfe would soon be lying in the morgue._

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A/N: So this chapter was a bit rushed since I really wanted to post it. I had imagined writing it differently, but it just ended up the way it is. I hope you enjoyed it, more to come soon, promise! Reviews please! I love getting them!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Hey guys! Thanks again for the wonderful reviews! Please keep them coming! I'm really sorry about the late update, my RL job has been hectic, and on top of that I've also managed to get a cold, but I'm much better now :) Here's chapter 9; it'll focus more on the "science" stuff so it may be a bit boring, but essential to the story, so enjoy!

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As soon as the team heard about what had happened at the hospital, they dropped everything that they were doing and immediately rushed to Dade General. There, they waited anxiously once again as doctors and nurses went in and out of the room frantically trying to stabilize Ryan. The team had realized right then and there that it couldn't be good news. After a while, Ryan's doctor came out and approached Horatio and the team. It turned out that Ryan's heart had stopped beating as a result of the lack of oxygen he was receiving because the ventilator he was hooked up to stopped working. His condition was now more critical than ever, and what hit home most of all was when the doctor said: "Look, I have to be honest with you; I don't think Mr. Wolfe is going to survive the night. I'm sorry."

Horatio kept calm and collective as the rest of the team were grief stricken by the news the doctor had given them. Calleigh, Natalia and Valera were simultaneously all in tears, while Eric and Frank both looked down solemnly at the floor. As soon as the doctor left the team alone, Horatio turned around to face his team and said reassuringly:

"Mr. Wolfe is going to make it. I don't want you to worry. But first, Calleigh, Eric - I need you both to get your kits in here as soon as possible, and I need you Natalia to go back to the lab with Frank." Horatio added.

"H, you heard the doctor, Wolfe is dying! We can't just leave him alone like this!" Eric protested.

"He's not alone Eric. I need you all to start looking at the surveillance cameras and I need Ryan's room to be dusted for prints." Horatio ordered as the team then realized what he was getting at.

"You don't think what happened to Ryan was an accident." Calleigh stated.

"That is exactly what I'm thinking, and I'm not going to stop until I find out who it is. Frank, I want uniforms guarding Ryan's room at all times until further notice." Horatio said in an agitated-non-Horatio-like voice as Frank looked at him surprisingly.

"I'm officially pissed off." Horatio said as he walked off to get to the bottom of things.

-

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Back at the lab, Natalia had called Frank down to the AV lab because she wanted another pair of eyes to help her sort through the surveillance, and because everyone else was busy at the moment with other things. Frank had just finished questioning the staff at the hospital to see if anyone had seen anything or heard anything suspicious, and of course, no one saw anything.

"Natalia" Frank said courtly as he entered the AV lab.

"Hey Frank, I just pulled up the hospital surveillance come on in." Natalia said as Frank came and stood beside her.

"Well everything looks pretty usual here; I don't see anything suspicious do you?" Natalia asked.

"What's the time frame on the surveillance?" Frank asked gruffly.

"Only an hour before Ryan went into cardiac arrest" Natalia answered.

"Isn't that a small time frame to be looking at?" Frank asked surprised.

"Under normal circumstances I'd say you were right, however, Calleigh just called me before you got here. She and Delko dusted Ryan's room and only found prints that belonged to Ryan's doctors and nurses. Which means the only people who were in Ryan's room were suppose to be in Ryan's room." Natalia began to explain.

"I'm sensing a "but" coming on." Frank added afterwards.

"BUT, Calleigh and Delko also analyzed Ryan's ventilator. The ICU monitors everyone patient's condition through a computer system and according to the system's log, Ryan went into cardiac arrest 4 minutes before 3:16 pm today. And here's the real interesting thing: according to the records I pulled up from the log, the ventilator was working properly." Natalia answered confidently.

"Okay, but that still doesn't explain the lack of oxygen Wolfe was getting" Frank said puzzled.

"You're right it doesn't, which is why Eric and Calleigh looked at all the equipment more carefully. It turns out they found a slit in the breathing tube Ryan was connected to. Frank, someone deliberately cut a hole in that tube, and I'm banking that someone works in the ICU unit. People can't just go in and out of that place. It's usually cut off from the rest of the hospital and the flow of personal are usually restricted to medical staff." Natalia theorized.

"What about him?" Frank said as he pointed to the screen which showed that it was approximately 5 minutes before Ryan crashed.

"It certainly fits the time frame. We should bring him in, any idea who he is?" Natalia asked.

"I know exactly who that little punk is." Frank said angrily and then stormed out.

-

-

"Why am I here?" the orderly who bumped into Frank earlier at the hospital asked.

"You're here because you attempted to kill a cop this afternoon, and here, we don't take that too kindly!" Tripp said irritated by the orderly's attitude.

"Mr. Cortier, you're the last person to enter Officer Wolfe's room before he went into cardiac arrest, would you care to explain please." Horatio said as he placed a photo of Cortier from surveillance in front of him.

"Yeah, I went into his room to check his vitals, doesn't mean I went in to kill him!" Cortier spat as Horatio placed another photo in front of him. This time it was a photo of a scalpel.

"Is this picture supposed to mean something?" Cortier asked inquisitively.

"We found your prints on it Mr. Cortier." Horatio stated.

"Lots of people use scalpels in there Officer. It's a _Hospital_. Besides the last time I checked, the patient wasn't bleeding anywhere." Cortier said sarcastically as Horatio smiled and looked down (although deep inside he really wanted to choke the twit to death).

"You used it to cut a hole in Officer Wolfe's breathing tube and that was a very big mistake." Horatio said.

"Yeah, the only thing that went wrong is that he didn't die. You only went back with the crash team to avoid suspicion." Frank added angrily.

"Other than the fact you've got me holding a knife, you can't prove anything else." Cortier rebutted.

"Oh on the contrary, Mr. Cortier, not only did we find your prints on the scalpel but we also found traces of Officer Wolfe's saliva on the blade. That puts you at the scene." Horatio said as he glanced up at Cortier.

"The only thing that's missing right now is motive." Horatio then added.

"We also checked your bank accounts, $50, 000 is a lot of money to be deposited in one day by a hospital orderly, don't you think?" Frank asked rhetorically.

"Who paid you Mr. Cortier?" Horatio demanded.

"I'm not saying another word until I get a lawyer." Cortier answered quietly.

"That won't be necessary. You're going down for the attempted murder of a police officer and I assure you that you'll never see the light of day again. Take him." Horatio said as an officer handcuffed Cortier and lead him away to booking.

"I'm betting that it was the triads that paid Cortier off to kill Wolfe. It makes sense; they're on to us anyways." Frank said after everyone except him and Horatio were in the room.

"Let's be sure Frank. Was it a cheque that Cortier deposited?" Horatio asked.

"No it was a funds transfer from an offshore account, which makes it impossible to trace." Frank answered.

"Okay, let's switch the focus back to the crime scene. Have everyone meet me in the conference room please." Horatio said.

"I'll call everyone in right now." Frank said as he pulled out his cell phone.

-

-

Everyone who was working on the Black Dragon/Tiger 6 case was now sitting in the conference room waiting for Horatio to speak. Calleigh looked around the room and realized that Horatio wanted to keep this meeting within the team as the FBI was not present. This was probably a good thing as she and Delko had discovered something important from the lab right before Horatio called.

"So, where are we on Mr. Wolfe's crime scene." Horatio asked.

"Well there aren't any usable prints in or around the examination room where Ryan was shot. And there weren't any secondary prints on Ryan's laptop either." Natalia said.

"Is there any way someone could have wiped it down?" Delko asked.

"No, that's not possible; Ryan's prints were still on the laptop at the scene. If someone were to have wiped it down, they would have had to wipe off Ryan's prints along with theirs. It makes sense; all the shooters were wearing gloves from what I saw on surveillance." Natalia answered.

"Well I guess we're at another dead end again." Frank said disappointedly.

"Not quite." Calleigh interjected

"What have you got Calleigh?" Horatio asked.

"Delko and I wondered how our shooters got into the lab without detection so we scanned the security system to see if anyone had hacked in and disabled the security that way..." Calleigh began

"And? Did Chow Lee have anything to do with it?" Frank asked impatiently.

"No, in fact the system shows that Ryan's security card was used by the shooters to gain access." Calleigh answered.

"What? How the hell did they get their hands on that? It's not like Wolfe to go handing out his security pass to Chinese assassins!" Frank said.

"Frank's dramatic but right, Ryan would never compromise a case unless he had good reason. Besides, he's lying in a hospital bed fighting for his life right now." Natalia said sympathetically.

"Do you think someone could have swiped it from him?" Eric asked suddenly.

"No, No I don't think so. Ryan's way too careful to let things slip like that." Calleigh answered.

"Then we need to find out who took that card then, don't we?" Horatio added.

"I think I can help with that." Agent Levi said as everyone turned to see him standing at the door.

"Daren." Horatio acknowledged.

"So having a meeting behind my back huh?" Daren said with his eyebrow raised.

"I was speaking with my team about Officer Wolfe's condition. Anything else I would have shared with you afterwards Agent." Horatio answered.

"Right, I heard about CSI Wolfe's in critical condition. I'm sorry Caine. You have my sympathy for your CSI, but I need to know what's going on at all times, especially since your lab's shooting is connected to our case. Emphasis on the word _our_ – this is supposed to be a joint effort remember?" Levi said in a mockingly voice.

"What have you got on how the shooters got in?" Horatio asked, changing the subject. He didn't trust anyone outside his team and he had good reason. Horatio had suspected that there was a mole and right now his gut instinct was pointing at someone on Levi's team. He just wasn't sure who, but it was about to get a whole lot clearer with what Levi was about to say.

"Well Ms. Duquesne beat me to it, I came here to tell you that Agent Trate was analyzing the hard drive on Wolfe's computer and couldn't find the deleted files. Whoever deleted them knows what they're doing, so we also switched focus to how the shooters got in your lab, and came to the same conclusion: Wolfe's card was used to gain entry into the lab." Daren explained.

"Well that's not very helpful is it?" Frank said sarcastically.

"I wasn't finished yet. Check this out." Levi said as he popped a disc in the player which showed Ryan and Angela having lunch before the shooting began.

"I found this after Agent Trate had told me that CSI Wolfe's security card was used to gain entry in the shooting. And since I wanted to give Wolfe the benefit of the doubt, I thought I look into the times he was either out in the field or lab. I figured that he could have misplaced or dropped it somehow." Levi explained.

"And it looked like neither. Look at the frame by frame analysis of how Wolfe's jacket is knocked down. Now, I'm not a psychiatrist Caine, but your CSI looks way too well put together to have the contents of his wallet end up all over the ground like that. Not to mention it looks like his wallet came from his inner coat jacket and not from the side pockets." Levi continued afterwards.

"You're right Daren, Officer Wolfe is meticulous to a fault." Horatio answered.

"That's some dexterity that guy's got there. If Agent Trate didn't slow down the speed of the video, we would have never seen the suspect deliberately trip, reach into Wolfe's jacket pocket on the chair and threw his wallet contents all over the place. And look at these frames: you'll probably recognize your lab's security pass being tucked away in the suspect's sleeve." Levi explained as he showed the rest of the team the video in slow motion.

"My guess is someone tipped the Dragons off and followed Agent Li and CSI Wolfe to the place they ate at. They just didn't stop to think that traffic lights have cameras in them, and that Li and Wolfe happened to be sitting outside that day near one." Levi added.

"Alright, I know its borderline unprofessional but I'm just going to come right out and say it: who knew besides Ryan and Agent Li that they were going out for lunch?" Frank asked. At that moment Agent Levi seemed to be at an absolute loss for words, while the rest of the team realized that their suspicions were right all along and even Agent Li's superior officer had just proved it.

"Angela?" Levi said completely in shock.

"We have to be absolutely sure, Frank." Horatio warned.

"Should we bring her in for questioning?" Eric asked.

"No we can't because we wouldn't have enough on her; its all circumstantial evidence. So if she's hiding something, she's definitely hiding it well." Calleigh said as she looked down.

"I'll personally keep an eye on her then, see if she slips up." Levi said as he nodded, looking displeased as he did.

"And so will we." Horatio added.

-

-

As the rest of the team and Agent Levi were busy keeping an eye out for Angela, Natalia decided to comb the back entrance area where the shooters had gained access to the lab. So far, she knew that there weren't any prints (just like the other crime scenes at MDPD), but she knew that there was one thing in the evidence log that they haven't found yet. In fact, she was hoping that it would still be around, although it was a long shot. Long behold, Natalia's wishful thinking came true as she saw a small gap in the wall and decided to shine her flashlight to examine it better. She couldn't help but smile as she used her tweezers and pulled out Ryan's security pass in between the cracks. She only hoped that there were prints on it that Eric could find in order to catch the people that destroyed their lab. Unfortunately, when she arrived at the fingerprinting lab, Natalia couldn't find Eric anywhere and since the case was restricted to their team, she could only rely on Eric to pull prints off the card that may have been damaged when it was concealed in the walls. Natalia pulled her phone out and dialled Eric's number, but was interrupted when Horatio called out to her from down the hall.

"Ms. Boa Vista." Horatio called.

"Horatio, hey - I was just on my way to find Eric. I found Ryan's security pass. There could be some useable prints on it...Horatio, is something wrong?" Natalia began to explain, but stopped as she noticed that Horatio looked unusually agitated for someone as calm as he was.

"The hospital just called, Ms. Boa Vista. We need to go there now." Horatio said as Natalia went numb.

-

-

-

A/N Well there you have it. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, but more importantly, I hope it made sense. It was actually a lot harder to explain all that technical stuff that I wanted (and needed) to explain than I thought. I also wanted to keep the dialogue in the scenes as conversational as I could, so they're probably not as grammatically correct as they should be. But then again, no one really speaks to be grammatically correct all the time, right? (lol!) Anyways, I hope you're all not too annoyed at the fact that I decided to end the chapter with yet another cliff hanger, but things are only going to be more suspenseful from here on out. Stay tuned!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

A/N: Hello everyone! Again, sorry about the late update, RL has still been hectic as you all were aware since the last chapter. So, here's chapter 10 and I hope you all enjoy it! There is a hint of a sequel, but I'll finish writing this story first. Please read and review – you know how much I love your comments! Also, I've updated chapter 3; just the minor grammar and spelling modifications. Also, I'm now debating on whether or not to add/mention the two new characters on the show (Jesse and Walter) into my story, but I'm not sure yet. I guess I'm still deciding on whether I like them...lol...we'll see I guess!

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Horatio and Natalia rushed over to Dade General as fast as they could and were practically out of breath as they ran up the stairs to the ICU ward. As soon as they reached the correct floor, Horatio and Natalia ran towards Ryan's room, where incidentally his doctor was also coming out of it at the same time.

"Lieutenant Caine, Ms. Boa Vista." The Doctor acknowledged.

"What's happened to Ryan Doctor?" Natalia asked out of breath but concerned at the same time.

"Ms. Boa Vista, Lieutenant, maybe you both should sit down..." The Doctor began

"Doctor, would tell us Mr. Wolfe's condition please" Horatio said in his usual voice, although he was concerned inside but just didn't show it.

"I called you down here to inform you that Mr. Wolfe's condition has stabilized and that we're finally able to move him to recovery." The Doctor answered happily.

"That's a relief! You had us for a moment there you know..." Natalia said.

"Well I'm sorry if I worried you, it wasn't my intent at all. I meant to tell you both over the phone, but I had another patient to tend to, which is why I was so vague. I have to admit, Mr. Wolfe is quite the fighter. I'm sorry about what I said before; clearly I was wrong." The doctor chuckled.

"That's quite alright doctor. Has Mr. Wolfe regained consciousness yet?" Horatio asked.

"He did a little while ago, but it was only for a brief moment. His body has taken quite the shock as you are aware so he'll be experiencing some extreme fatigue. Therefore, I'm still restricting the amount of visitors he gets for a while longer, or until his condition improves more. He's resting at the moment, but seeing as you're here, I don't see the harm with the both of you visiting him. Although he's not awake, I'm sure he'll be glad that the both of you came down here to check up on him." The Doctor said reassuringly.

"Thank you doctor" Horatio said as he nodded to the doctor who went about his way.

"I thought..." Natalia began.

"I did too. I'm glad he's out of the woods. Ms. Boa Vista, would you please call the others and inform them of Mr. Wolfe's condition?" Horatio asked Natalia.

"I'd be happy to H." Natalia answered tentatively.

"What's on your mind?" Horatio asked.

"Well, don't you think it's kind of weird that Ryan's family is still not here? I mean, if someone in my family was in a situation like this I would have dropped everything to be with them." Natalia said.

"I understand your concern. You know what though, I sure Mr. Wolfe is glad that we'll always be here for him." Horatio answered. It was also at the point that Natalia was truly touched by this statement and she and Horatio shared a smile.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Back at the lab, Eric had gotten off the phone with Natalia who shared the good news about Ryan and began to dust the security pass Natalia had found earlier for prints. Eric made a slight smile as he found a clean print and immediately lifted it and then placed in on a scanner. Just then, Calleigh walked into the room presumably wanting to know about Eric's progress.

"Hey, did you get anything off of Ryan's security pass yet?" Calleigh asked Eric.

"Yeah, I found a print on the card. It looks clean with good ridge detail." Eric said, while he hovered over the pass and examined it further with a magnifying glass.

"Did you run the print yet?" Calleigh asked.

"It's running through AFIS right now." Eric answered, and smiled at Calleigh. Eric then heard the results beep on the computer and turned to find out if there were any matches.

"I've got a match. The print belongs to a Carl Liotta. He's never been "formally charged" before, but he's got a rap sheet that's pretty long – mostly money laundering and fraud but all the evidence in the cases involving him was circumstantial." Eric said as he read off Liotta's file on the computer.

"Well that's shocking." Eric said sarcastically.

"What?" Calleigh asked.

"It says here that Liotta is a well established accountant and has a firm within one of the better parts of Miami." Eric answered.

"He looks like a total sleaze bag. Is there any connection to him and our case?" Calleigh asked.

"Yeah, he's been linked to Lee by the feds. But they were never able to connect him to their cases against the Black Dragon Gang." Eric added.

"Why is that?" Calleigh asked as Angela walked into the lab.

"Well according to Liotta's profile, he's a good friend of Lee's. The two have been spotted all over town together. However, we've never been able to link Liotta to any of the Black Dragon crimes. More so, we can't very well arrest Liotta on the basis on being a crime lord's buddy." Angela said as she walked towards Eric and Calleigh.

"Well hopefully, the print I found will change things." Eric answered coolly.

"Let's hope so. Just be careful, Liotta's got an army of lawyers who've kept him out of prison this long." Angela added.

"Yeah, well his print's on Ryan's security pass, when there's no reason for it to be." Eric spat back.

"Did I do something to offend you Officer Delko?" Angela asked.

"No, I'm just tired of all of these dead ends. Wolfe's fighting for his life right now, while the BD gang probably knows that we're on to them and are probably moving away from the area as we speak." Eric answered quickly.

"No they're not." Angela answered.

"How the hell would you know?" Eric asked angrily, while inside he found it suspicious that Angela would say such a thing.

"Did you not pay attention to what I've been saying all along about Chow Lee? He's a narcissist. Believe me when I say that he's not the type of person who will back down and go into hiding. The shootout at your lab proves just how much Lee doesn't back down. He's going to want to fight this out." Angela answered firmly not wanting to let Eric intimidate her.

"Look, I know everyone's on edge right now, but we need to focus our energy on Carl Liotta. Here's the file we have on him. You've also been granted access into our file system, while you're here working in our lab." Angela said as she pulled up Liotta's file on screen. Surprisingly there was more information on it that what Calleigh and Eric were able to find on the MDPD system.

"Another thing that you both should know is that Liotta and Lee are not just best friends – they're also brothers. Liotta's half Chinese and half Italian; his parents adopted Lee a little while after Liotta was born. They grew up together, and I'm banking on the fact that though Liotta claims he has nothing to do with Lee's affairs, he's lying." Angela continued.

"Wait, but didn't Agent Levi say back during our first interview that Lee works alone and trusts no one.?" Calleigh asked.

"He does – he controls his so-called empire alone and has the final say, but you know that saying "it's lonely at the top?" Well my gut tells me that Liotta's the only one that Lee truly trusts with anything." Angela answered.

"So in other words, we crack Carl Liotta and we can bring Chow Lee down once and for all." Eric stated

"Exactly." Angela answered Eric.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

After Eric and Calleigh's findings, Tripp and Natalia had Carl Liotta taken down to the MDPD station for questioning. Unsurprisingly, Liotta's lawyer was already there waiting before Liotta had even reached the interrogation room. Natalia and Tripp guided Liotta and his lawyer into the room where they sat down – all except for Tripp who had always preferred to stand anyways. As they sat down, Natalia gave Liotta a "once over" and decided that he looked like scum to her. Carl Liotta looked arrogant as he sat down which spoke volumes about his involvement with the case. In fact, while Horatio and Agent Levi stood behind the two way mirror, Horatio couldn't help but notice that Liotta seemed like he knew what was going on and why they had him brought in for questioning.

"To what do I owe the honour to for talking to MDPD's finest this time?" Liotta asked smugly.

"Cut the crap Liotta, you why you're down here." Frank said as he placed a photograph of Ryan's security card with Liotta's fingerprint on the table.

"Is this supposed to mean something to me?" Liotta asked sarcastically.

"You're print is on this security pass that was used in a shootout, which happened in our forensics lab a few days ago. Also, the shootout was orchestrated by your brother Lee and his triad gang. Would you care to explain that?" Frank spat.

"Don't answer that. My client was in a company board meeting the entire time your shootout occurred, and there are 20 chair members and not to mention security footage showing Mr. Liotta in his firm on the day in question. Finally, what Mr. Liotta's brother does has nothing to do with my client. Just because they're family, doesn't mean that Mr. Liotta is into the same business as his brother." Liotta's lawyer answered coldly.

"Right, and your rap sheet for fraud, money laundering, and your connection to the Black Dragon gang just so happens to be a coincidence?" Frank asked incredulously.

"Yeah – what else do you want me to say? Look I love my brother, but he's into some bad things that I care NOT to be a part of. I already have a reputable business; I don't need to commit crimes." Liotta answered arrogantly again.

"And not to mention, those cases against my client did not have any hard evidence. Everything was purely circumstantial." The lawyer added.

"That still doesn't explain why your prints on this pass. You could be looking at conspiracy to commit a crime if you don't explain yourself." Natalia stated.

"Well if you must know, I was walking towards my car the other day when some guy trips on the sidewalk and spills his wallet contents everywhere. I went over and helped." Liotta answered calmly.

"How nice of you." Frank said sarcastically.

"Well that settles it: you and your police department are obviously on a witch-hunt to incriminate my client for being related to gang lord, while Mr. Liotta was just being a good citizen. We're done here. What a waste of time." The lawyer said as he and Liotta began to get up and leave.

"See, we thought that you were going to say that, which is why I'm going to show you this." Natalia said smartly as she pulled another photograph out of her file. It wasn't a very clear photo, but it was clear enough: it showed Liotta in a baseball cap at the café that Ryan and Angela were at.

"We also have a video of you (in slow motion, I might add) knocking over CSI Wolfe's coat and wallet over and pocketing his security pass. So _clearly_, we're not on a witch-hunt. You should have just told the truth. Instead, now you're going down for conspiracy to commit murder (on a police officer), and to cover up a crime. So you might as well make it better for yourself and tell us where Chow Lee is hiding because we know that he's behind all of this. And who knows, maybe the state judge will give you leniency." Natalia said sternly.

"I'm done talking." Liotta said after a few seconds of silence.

"Get him out of here." Tripp said as an officer escorted Liotta out of interrogation and into booking. Meanwhile, Horatio and Daren walked out of the other room and approached Frank and Natalia.

"Good work – we're getting close to bringing down the BD gang I can feel it." Daren said proudly.

"Well hardly. Liotta's not going to talk and his lawyers will probably have him out on bail before lunch tomorrow." Tripp answered.

"Yeah, but we've probably rattled Chow Lee by arresting his brother. He doesn't take to this sort of thing lightly. My guess is, he'll want to even up the playing field, so we're going to have to be on the lookout for anything that Lee is going to throw at us." Daren added.

"So are you saying that we're now opened to the possibility of another attack?" Frank asked surprisingly.

"Well at this point, I wouldn't put it past Lee not to strike again. He's already done it once, and he knows that we're on to him. I'm just saying that we should be ready – fight fire with fire. If throwing his brother in jail (even for a little while) will bring him into the open then I think it's worth the risk." Daren answered as Frank rolled his eyes.

"What's his problem?" Daren asked as Frank walked away angrily.

"Agent Levi, I'm not here to use my people as bait. I've already have people in the hospital because of this case." Horatio said calmly.

"I'm sorry if you feel that way, but when you agreed to go on this case you opened up a can of worms Caine. You and your people were told the risks involved." Daren argued.

"Yeah, well last time I checked no one from the bureau's at Dade General with battle wounds right now." Natalia interjected.

"You're making it sound like my people are expendable. I rather not have another shoot out in Miami. This isn't a game." Horatio said coolly, as he walked away to talk to Frank, while Daren stood with a confused look on his face.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

After talking to Frank and convincing him not beat-up Levi, Horatio drove back to the FBI forensics lab to inform his team that their own lab was back and running. Horatio was relieved that he and his team would be able to return to MDPD, where they were more at home. And although he wouldn't say it out loud, he didn't trust the feds. As he was walking down the halls, he saw Angela speaking on the phone and sounding quite agitated.

"…_Yeah well I wouldn't put it past them either…I know, I'm pretty sure they know something's up…I have a gut feeling…yeah, well everyone's suspicious of me already…'cause they speak to me with that __tone__…I'm not imagining things!..I'm a psychologist remember?...Fine, I'll update you as soon as I can." _Angela said as she angrily shut her phone.

"Agent Li, is there something bothering you?" Horatio asked in his usual monotone voice.

"I'm alright. Is there something I can help you with Lieutenant?" Angela said tentatively.

"I just wanted to let you know that my lab's been cleared. My team and I will be going back there to work on the case as soon as we pack all of our equipment up." Horatio answered while he glanced at Angela sideways.

"That's great news." Angela said.

"Agent Li you seem edgy. Are you sure everything's alright?" Horatio asked again while glancing down at his sunglasses in his hands.

"I told you I was fine. Has CSI Duquesne found anything on the bullets we retrieved from your lab?" Angela asked to diffuse the situation.

"I believe that she's running them through the system right now." Horatio answered.

"Great. I'll go check with her to see if she's found any matches yet." Angela said as she walked away, leaving Horatio to question her motives.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Calleigh was running the last of the bullets when Angela walked into the lab:

"Hey, did you need any help processing the bullets we found at the crime scene?" Angela asked.

"I'm running the last sample right now." Calleigh answered not looking up from her microscope.

"Have you gotten any results from the bullets yet?" Angela asked.

"I had matches for the other guns. They were the same ones that were stolen from our warehouse and used in the pier murders." Calleigh answered nonchalantly.

"That's good news. This evidence just means more that we can use to incriminate the BD's. I'll let Daren and the rest of my team know." Angela said as she pulled out her cell phone.

"Yeah, you do that." Calleigh retorted, again not looking up from her microscope.

"Okay, you're the second one today; did I do something? Cause everyone at MDPD seems to be pissed at me." Angela confronted.

"I'm just trying to close this case as fast as possible. What are you doing?" Calleigh retorted.

"I'm doing the same thing Officer Duquesne. What exactly are you insinuating here?" Angela asked angrily.

"Well this is supposed to be a joint investigation where you're supposed to be a liaison between us and the FBI. Yet you're never around – on both sides I might add. That or you're constantly on your phone, therefore I repeat: what are you doing?" Calleigh asked.

"What I'm doing is trying to solve this case. And I hope you're not thinking that I'm the mole, because I'm not." Angela answered quietly, while staring Calleigh straight in the eye.

"How did you...?" Calleigh began to say.

"The Director informed me about our little problem." Angela stated.

"So who were you talking to on the phone Agent Li?" Horatio asked as he walked in, already knowing what was going on.

"The Director, he wants to know who's been betraying us, and I'm in charge of finding out." Angela said and then continued:

"I know it's none of you, because you've only been working on the case for a short time. Well in fact, I didn't even know that there was a mole until a couple of days ago when the director pulled me aside and told me about it." Angela said.

"What else do you know?" Calleigh asked

"I've learned from some recent INTEL that there have been large sums of money being drained from the Black Dragon's bank accounts." Angela began.

"Okay, but didn't you say that the Black Dragons are in massive amounts of debt?" Calleigh asked.

"They are, but apparently Lee has been liquidating the last of his gang assets (which by the way still makes a hefty sum of money), and he's been secretly funnelling the money to another account." Angela explained.

"But you guys told us that he would never do that based on his narcissism and inability to back down. He would never leave his gang out in the open like that." Calleigh said

"Yeah that's right and wrong. It turns out that Chow Lee has been funnelling the money into Tiger 6 accounts. It's an offshore Cayman account disguised as your usual "corporate business account" to make it look legit. Lee's switching sides. However, the only question is why and how it benefits him." Angela explained.

"Would you care to explain how the mole fits into all of this, please?" Horatio asked while looking down.

"Lee hasn't been depositing _all _of the money he's been gaining from his liquidation. And consequently, how else would Chow Lee know what we're doing and when we're doing it if there wasn't someone from within the department telling him about it?" Angela asked rhetorically and then continued:

"But here's the real issue: the director has noticed some discrepancies from my team's reports such as the little tidbit I just told you. So not to be outdone with his investigating skills, my director looked into our case personally and noticed these voids, but only recently. At first, he thought that my team was overlooking these details, but then your lab was attacked. And not only that, those shooters knew what they were looking for, and remember in our first meeting how this case was compartmentalized? Well there's no way Lee and his shooters would know what file to delete and who to shoot without someone giving out that information." Angela said concerned.

"It makes sense now. It was part of Lee's plan all along: his intention was to have us focus primarily on the Black Dragon gang, while he's been secretly merging with his rival gang." Horatio said while Calleigh and Angela both nodded.

"Do you have any idea who the mole is?" Calleigh asked Angela.

"I think it's someone on my team. But I don't know who, all of us have complete access to this case." Angela answered while looking down disappointedly.

"I hate to ask, but what's to keep us from suspecting you?" Calleigh asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I can't keep you from suspecting me, but I'm telling you right now: I'm not the mole." Angela simply stated.

"Alright, let's refocus then, I'll call the others and tell them that someone on Levi's team been has been betraying the justice system. And for your sake, I really hope you're telling the truth." Calleigh told Angela, then walked away to inform the others of their new plan.

"I have a feeling she doesn't like me." Angela said while she watched Calleigh walk away.

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Meanwhile at Dade hospital Ryan slowly opened his eyes - having to blink several times before he was able to focus on anything. He felt something in his hand and turned his head to one side to see what it was; and when he did he couldn't help but smile weakly. Alexx had probably fallen asleep beside his bed when she came to check up on him. Not wanting to disturb her, Ryan didn't remove his hand from Alexx's grasp.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Hey everyone, I'm terribly sorry about the delay! Needless to say - 'cause I know most of you are probably feeling what a tough year it's been and with Christmas coming soon...well let's just say life isn't perfect, but I hopefully things will be better for everyone in the coming year!

Anyways, I'm sure most of you have heard by now that actor Jonathan Togo was arrested for "alleged domestic violence" in his home recently. I don't know about everyone else here, but I was in complete shock when I found out. I feel terrible for him and anyone else involved, and I'm still hoping that this entire incident was just a really BIG misunderstanding. I also hope that everyone will reserve judgement on the whole incident since no one really knows the entire story other than the people involve. Nevertheless, the character Ryan Wolfe will still always be my favourite character on Miami and nothing will ever change that! **I also think it's necessary to separate character and actor**; and after much consideration (because I was thinking of discontinuing this fanfic), I've decided that "the show must go on". In other words, I'm still supporting the character of Ryan Wolfe because he is simply an amazing character and CSI Miami would not be the same without him.

And on a side note: I'm also hoping that the writers/producers will return Ryan back to the way he was circa seasons 6-7 because was absolutely outstanding then and not have him so goofy and overshadowed by the new guys (no offense to them btw, I like them too). So enjoy the chapter and please don't forget to comment afterwards your support means a lot to me!

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The sun beamed into the hospital room. It would have been another typical day in Miami if it weren't for the fact that so much had happened at MDPD prior to what was shaping up to be one of the biggest cases Horatio and his team have seen. At the present, Ryan Wolfe had finally regained consciousness from his injuries and was resting comfortably (or as comfortably as the morphine in his IV gave him) in his bed. Ryan had also been ordered by his doctor to not speak since the ventilator he had been hooked up too was only recently removed, and because the bullet wound in his lung had only been repair recently as well. He couldn't really remember what happen other than what Alexx and Horatio had told him when he woke up. In fact, the last thing he remembered was working on compositing a list of possible places Chow Lee could be hiding. Ryan's eyes suddenly grew large as a thought suddenly hit him: _what the hell happened to the file I was working on?_ But before he could continue his thought, the one person who he didn't want to see walked into his room,

"Mr. Wolfe, glad to see you're back amongst the living." Stetler said casually as he walked in and took a seat by Ryan's bed.

"I've seen better days." Ryan whispered weakly.

"You're probably wondering why I'm here." Stetler stated, while Ryan looked at him waiting for whatever the hell IAB wanted from him this time.

"I'm here because I need your statement on what happened. Just try and give me whatever you can; remember, time is of the essence right now, I'm sure you've been informed that your shooter's still out there." Stetler said

"Rick, what are you doing?" Horatio asked while looking down at his sunglasses.

"I'm here to get Wolfe's statement and account on what happened at the lab. You and I both know that the faster we close this case, the better." Stetler said with a sigh.

"I understand that; however Mr. Wolfe has been ordered by his doctor to not speak Rick." Horatio warned.

"Yeah, I know Horatio. I was hoping he would write it out for us." Rick argued.

"Rick, I understand you want to catch the people involved as soon as possible, however, I think it's important that Mr. Wolfe gets his rest. From what the doctors have told me, Mr. Wolfe will be experiencing some extreme fatigue." Horatio argued back

"Well I think that we should let him decide for himself, he's a big boy." Rick countered, while Ryan looked at the two grown men bickering. Secretly, he found the scene in front of him hilarious, but he also found Horatio's statement to be true, he was feeling exhausted already.

"It looks like he's decided already." Ryan's doctor said, while the three men looked over at the bed. Ryan was already passed out.

"You're both lucky that the patient's out right now and not agitated with your noise level. I want the both of you to leave before you disturb anymore patients." The Doctor sternly said.

"Sorry doctor." Horatio acknowledge and then left.

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When Horatio arrived at the lab after visiting Ryan at the hospital, he spotted Angela in the lab and decided to see what she was up to.

"Agent Li." Horatio said.

"Lieutenant, I heard you were at the hospital, I hope Officer Wolfe's recovering well?" Angela asked.

"He is thank you for asking. He's still not out of the woods yet, but he's doing well considering what happened to him." Horatio answered.

"That's good, I'm glad. I wanted to go and visit him but I've been tied down between your lab and the bureau. Not to mention, I've taken over what Wolfe was working on since he's in the hospital." Angela answered.

"I thought those files were deleted?" Horatio said.

"They were. I'm starting from square one again – that means using cell phone records, locations that these gangs are frequently spotted at...maybe that'll turn up some leads." Angela said as she continued looking at her screen.

"That's kind of a long shot isn't it? We know that Chow Lee was behind the lab shooting and was targeting Mr. Wolfe. He must have revamped and relocated his bases by now." Horatio said inquisitively.

"I know, but it's all that we have so far. Lee's managed to stay one step ahead of us. That and my team are working on refocusing their energy on using Liotta against Lee." Angela added.

"That's quite a plan. Could you explain how you're going to do that please?" Horatio said as he walked closer to where Angela was standing.

"Well, I was looking over Liotta's file and it seems that every time he's had a run in with the law, Lee's been there to clean up his brother's messes." Angela explained as she pulled up all the cases that pertained to Liotta on her laptop.

"I see. So you're thinking that Liotta is Lee's smoking gun aren't you?" Horatio asked as Angela smiled slightly.

"That's exactly what I'm thinking. Liotta's the one weakness of Lee; he's never stood up for anyone except Liotta. My plan is to have Liotta charged with conspiracy, but we need more evidence on him if we're going to nail this guy. I've also already talked to the D.A.: Liotta's bail hearing is in an hour and he's going to try and make it so Liotta stays behind bars. Otherwise, he's more than likely to disappear." Angela added.

"That sounds like a good plan Agent Li. Please keep me posted." Horatio said as he turned around to leave.

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Carl Liotta leaned back on his chair and crossed his legs as he waited for his hearing to begin. His lawyers had already assured him that his newest run in with the law was a blow over, and that there was only circumstantial evidence against him. Carl smiled smugly as the district attorney made her way towards he table, followed by the judge shortly afterwards. _What a waste of time this is_, Carl thought to himself.

"Your honour, my client has never been arrested before and I would also like to reiterate that Mr. Liotta was not present during that shooting at the Miami Dade Crime Lab." Liotta's attorney stated.

"Your honour, I'd like to add that Liotta, although never arrested has been connected to several crimes involving money laundering, insider trading, destruction of government property and most recently the attempted murder of a police officer." The D.A. argued back.

"Your honour, those cases against my client has no warrant here. There was no solid evidence suggesting that he was guilty before and there certainly isn't any solid proof now. And like I've said to before, my client is being incarcerated for being related to a mobster!" Liotta's attorney fired back.

"Your honour, we have video surveillance of the defendant stealing Officer Wolfe's security pass. Now what exactly could the defendant want with that." The D.A. asked rhetorically.

"That's nothing except for a coincidence." The defendant argued back. Suddenly, the D.A's assistant entered the court room and gave the D.A. a package and quickly spoke to her.

"Your honour, I've just been informed that the Miami Dade crime lab has just looked into further into the lab shooting case and have come across evidence which pertains to the defendant." The D.A. said calmly.

"Counsellor this is a bail hearing, physical evidence is not needed." The judge stated.

"I know your honour, and normally I would agree. However, I really think you need to see this." The D.A. said as she held up some papers.

"Fine Counsellor, present your evidence." The Judge said.

"Thank you your honour." The D.A. answered then continued:

"The Miami Dade Crime Lab has found new evidence involving the shooting of CSI Ryan Wolfe. With the help of FBI Agent Angela Li, they have recovered footage of his shooter (still at large may I add) recorded from CSI Wolfe's laptop. Your Honour if I may?" The D.A. said as she pulled out a movie disc as well.

"Your honour, I thought this was a bail hearing." Liotta's lawyer interjected

"I'll allow it, but get to your point now counsellor." The Judge warned.

"Yes your honour." The D.A. said as she popped the disc in the player. Immediately, an image of Ryan Wolfe pulled up which indicated that he had activated the webcam on the laptop. Then it showed Ryan turning the laptop around seconds before the shooter entered room and opened fired on him. Afterwards, it showed the shooter deleting the files off of the computer and running out.

"I don't see what this has to do with my client." Liotta's attorney said

"Counsellor you're really trying my patience here." The Judge warned again.

"There's more, I have close up photos of the shooter cutting himself on a broken piece of glass on the door frame." The D.A. said while handing out photos of the shooter cutting his leg on the glass.

"More so, the investigation has concluded that the shooter is at least 6'0' foot tall – the same height as Mr. Liotta there. Your honour, there's probable cause here. I like to motion for new charges to be issued here and for Liotta to submit DNA sample and to show his possible leg injury." The D.A. said confidently.

"Your Honour..." Liotta's attorney began to argue.

"Save it Counsellor. Mr. Liotta, lift up your left pant leg please." The Judge ordered. Reluctantly Liotta lifted his pant leg and there behold was a cut.

"I've seen enough. The defendant's injuries are consistent with the evidence video. Mr. Liotta will submit to DNA testing and if the results prove conclusive, he will be charged accordingly." The Judge ordered and then tapped his gavel.

"Your honour, what about bail?" Liotta's lawyer asked with a last ditch effort to help his client.

"Your Honour, the defendant's a flight risk and has more than enough of the financial means to pay bail." The D.A. argued.

"The Persecutor's right, Mr. Liotta is a flight risk with charges pending. No bail will be set and the defendant will remain in federal custody. This hearing is over." The Judge said as he tapped his gavel one more time and got up and left.

"You said that this was a breeze, you idiot!" Liotta said as the guards slapped hand cuffs on him

"We'll work on getting you bail. Just sit tight." Liotta's lawyer advised as Carl was led away.

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A/N: I sorry if the courtroom battle was a little off from realistic, but I really have no idea how they work so I just winged it. But for the sake of my story, it's how they work now! :P


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

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A/N: Hey everyone! Again, sorry about the late update, I had a mean case of writers block. Enjoy! Please comment and review!

**Also the following chapter takes place after some time since the last chapter :)

**Support Ryan Wolfe!

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Angela had just gotten off the phone with the district attorney and smiled as she heard the good news. It took a lot of work and she had even enlisted the help of Dave Benton from the AV lab to help her retrieve everything from Ryan's computer. Angela had to admit, she was starting to doubt members of her team which is why she asked Dave Benton to help her instead of Agent Trate. On the other hand, Angela was quite impressed by Ryan. It was clear that Chow Lee and Carl Liotta had under-estimated Ryan and the video that they had found proved that. Speaking of which, she really wanted to go and visit Ryan at the hospital now since they've finally caught a break in the case. Everyone else in the lab was also very pleased that the person who shot Ryan was finally behind bars. After submitting to a DNA test, the blood left behind by Ryan's shooter was a match to Carl Liotta. Since that discovery, Liotta was formally charged with conspiracy, destruction of government property, assault with a deadly weapon and the attempted murder of a police officer. In other words, there was no way Liotta was going to be able to escape his newest run in with the law, and it was about time. Angela was about to call it a day when Calleigh walked into the room.

"Hey." Calleigh said as she walked in.

"Hey." Angela answered, while trying to not to make the situation anymore awkward.

"I just wanted to come in and say thank you for catching Ryan's shooter. I know you and I got off on the wrong foot, but I hope you understand..." Calleigh began.

"I don't really take anything personally, so don't worry about it okay?" Angela said stoically.

"Okay." Calleigh acknowledged then left.

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Natalia was surprised to see Ryan awake in his hospital room when she walked in to visit him. Although she had to admit, Ryan still looked extremely pale and completely drained. She could also see the dark circles under his eyes. In fact, Natalia was having a hard time understanding how Ryan could even keep his eyelids open at this point.

"Hey Ryan, how are you feeling?" Natalia asked as she walked in and sat down. Ryan simply nodded and tried his best to smile, acknowledging that he was feeling better.

"I came here to tell you that we finally caught the person who gunned you down." Natalia said. Ryan suddenly looked up and made contact with Natalia when he realized that he had remembered what had happened that fateful day.

"You remember what you did don't you?" Natalia asked with a concerned look on her face. Meanwhile, Ryan's face seem to stare off into the distance as he replayed the images of himself hearing gunfire close by and him using his laptop webcam as a last desperate attempt to catch the killers. Needless to say, Natalia realized that Ryan was still traumatized by the shooting and would probably need a lot of therapy when he got out of the hospital. Sensing that Ryan wanted to be alone, Natalia reassuringly squeezed Ryan's hand before she got up to leave.

"Natalia..." Ryan suddenly said in a raspy voice.

"Yes Ryan?" Natalia answered with concern

"You need to go to my apartment..." Ryan answered, while Natalia looked confused.

After Natalia had gotten back from Dade General, she had informed everyone some startling news: it turned out that Ryan's OCD habits had finally broken the case. Ryan not only made files on his computer, but also made a hard copy in his memo book. And as it turns out, Ryan had accidently left it at home the day of the shooting. When they heard the good news Horatio thought it would be best to keep the news between his team and his team only, since they knew that there was a mole amongst the FBI team, so he sent Calleigh and Eric to go to Ryan's apartment to retrieve the memo book. Horatio wanted to gain the advantage over Chow Lee, and he felt that the only way to do that was to leave Agent Levi's team in the dark, for now.

Eric and Calleigh walked into Ryan's apartment slowly with their kits in hand. It was the first time that both Eric and Calleigh had been there and they wished it would have been under different circumstances. While walking deeper into Ryan's apartment, both Eric and Calleigh looked around curiously at the cleanliness of the place. Although Ryan had not been in his home for a while now, it was still spotless and not an ounce of dust was in sight. Calleigh walked slowly through the corridor and looked at the walls; she noticed there were some framed posters and art work, but no pictures. By the time Calleigh had reached the living room, she found that Eric was also curiously looking around.

"So this is Ryan's place..." Calleigh said as she walked closer to Eric.

"Yeah, it's uh....it's really...." Eric began to say

"Ryan." They said in unison and shared a laugh afterwards.

"I don't think I've ever seen a place – correction a _guy's place_ where all the dvd's and books are alphabetized, and the clothing is arranged by style and colour. You know, maybe Wolfe should open a clothing store." Eric joked.

"Be nice, Eric – besides you know he has OCD." Calleigh reminded.

"You know I almost forgot he has OCD." Eric said a little sadly.

"Well everyone on the team has their quirks. We barely notice them anymore, since we've worked together for so long." Calleigh said a matter of fact.

"Yeah, let's just find Ryan's memo pad. It'll be good to start putting some of Lee's people in jail." Eric said as he walked into Ryan's bedroom.

"Where did he say it was again?" Eric asked.

"I think he said, top drawer of his dresser." Calleigh yelled from outside.

"Bingo." Eric said as he picked up the paper pad with a leather cover, smiling to himself.

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As soon as Eric and Calleigh had gotten back to the lab, they began immediately began processing Ryan's memo pad. Afterwards, they had informed Tripp about all of the locations that they found, so that they could begin with raiding hot spot locations. It was a long shot, but at least they had recovered all of the missing data from the deleted file. Both Calleigh and Eric were so hard at work that they didn't even notice someone walk into the lab.

"Well I've got to say: I get shot three times, yet I still manage to crack a case." Ryan smirked sarcastically as he slowly walked in with a cane.

"Ryan? What are you doing here?!" Calleigh asked as she practically ran over to give Ryan a hug.

"Well I couldn't stand the hospital any longer and the doctors and nurses couldn't stand my complaining. So they said that they'd release me if I took it easy." Ryan said while looking down.

"Okay, then why are you here? You should be recuperating at home." Eric said concerned while looking Ryan over. He seemed a bit pale, but otherwise in better spirits.

"Thanks _mom_, but I figured I'd go crazy if I have to sit around and do nothing any longer. I've cleared it with Horatio and Stetler, they said that I can help with the lab stuff, as long as I remain on light duty." Ryan explained.

"That's great news Ryan! But don't think we won't be keeping an eye out on you; if anything is wrong, you're either going home or the hospital." Calleigh warned but smiled.

"Oh don't you worry: Alexx gave me the third degree after they released me and I DO NOT want to cross that woman. She threatened to have me stay with her so she could "keep an eye on me" if I didn't take it easy." Ryan said with wide eyes while Calleigh and Eric laughed.

"Yeah, that's Alexx alright." Eric chuckled.

"The sad part is I'm pretty sure she was serious." Ryan answered with a raised eyebrow.

The three of them shared a laugh before they were interrupted by a rush of FBI agents bursting past them. Curiosity got the better of them as they followed the agents into another lab room.

"Agent Li, stop what you're doing right now, you're coming with us." Agent Levi said in a disappointed tone.

"Why? What happened?" Angela asked confusingly as she put down whatever she was working on.

"You're under arrest, Agent." Agent Levi answered as two agents swiftly walked over to where Angela was sitting, stood her up and cuffed her. Ryan didn't know how to explain it, but as Angela walked past him they shared a glance and he instantly knew that whatever it was that they were arresting her for, she didn't do it. Ryan pulled out his phone and immediately called the only person who could help in a situation like this.

"Hey H, we've have a situation." Ryan said as he walked past a dumbfounded Calleigh and Eric.

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A/N: I know this chapter was a bit short, but the next one is being written as you read this. I'm hoping to post it within 48 hours so until then....!


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Hey everyone, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Things will be explained more thoroughly and there will be a bit more action to come as promised before. But for now, enjoy the drama! As always, I love your reviews :)!

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As soon as Ryan found Horatio, he began to tell him what had just happened. It was a gut feeling, but Ryan knew that there was no way Angela was responsible for whatever it is that they arrested her for. And more so, the look that he and Angela exchanged proved to him that she had nothing to do with anything as it was a look of utter shock and confusion. And the fact that Horatio just stood there without an expression didn't help either.

"Mr. Wolfe, Agent Li has been arrested because she's the mole." Horatio answered.

"What!?" Ryan asked confusingly.

"The FBI found $300 000 dollars deposited into Agent Li's banking account. They almost didn't catch it since the amount was deposited in divided amounts, but they were all from the same source. It's also been recently discovered that she's been in contact with Chow Lee. She used a secure phone line." Horatio answered with a slight disappointment in his voice.

"H, something just isn't right here. Between you and me, she just doesn't seem like the type to go and do something like this." Ryan said.

"Why would you say that, Mr. Wolfe?" Horatio asked.

"She told me that she's basically spent her entire career trying to stop the triads because her brother was killed by them. That hardly sounds like someone who would betray her own beliefs." Ryan answered.

"Mr. Wolfe, is there a possibility that she could have been lying to you?" Horatio asked.

"H, I've heard hundreds of confessions before; and you know as well as I do that there's a gut feeling you get when you know someone's guilty. I'm telling you, I don't think she did this." Ryan answered passionately while Horatio looked up towards Ryan.

"Ok Mr. Wolfe, I guess then what you're saying is that Agent Li is being set up?" Horatio asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, and what's worse is it's by someone who's suppose to be one of the good guys." Ryan answered back.

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Angela sat quietly and didn't even flinch in the interrogation room. On the outside, she showed no signs of panic; there was no emotion on her face and she remained perfectly calm. It was the calmness that was eerie, and one that made the two men who stood on the other side of the two-way mirror feel uneasy. Horatio walked into the room, while playing with his sunglasses in his hands.

"Gentlemen." Horatio said.

"Lieutenant Caine, I assume you're here to find out why Agent Li's been arrested." The Director said as he turned back to look at Angela through the mirror.

"I'm aware of the situation, but please explain Director." Horatio said as he looked down, while the director explained the new developing situation.

"Do you think I could talk to her?" Horatio asked.

"I've already done that. I've gotten nowhere with her. What makes you think that _you_ can get anything out of her?" Agent Levi replied angrily.

"What good would it do for you to interrogate her anyways? It's clear she's the mole." The Director said.

"There's nothing really to lose then. May I speak with her please?" Horatio asked.

"Fine, but just a fair warning, she's hard to crack. She's usually the one who breaks criminals into confessing." Levi said.

"I'm not looking for a confession." Horatio said as he left to enter the other room, leaving the Director and Levi looking baffled.

Horatio walked into the interrogation room slowly and closed the door behind him. Angela's eyes followed Horatio as he walked closer to her and then sat down across the table. Daren Levi then noted how juvenile he thought it was when he saw Horatio and Angela engage themselves in what seemed to be a staring contest.

"Seriously, are they waiting to see who blinks first?" Levi said impatiently as he waved towards Horatio and Angela.

"Can it Agent. I want to see where this is going." The Director retorted while never taking his eyes off of them. It was a different tactic, but the Director knew that Horatio was trying to get Li to talk, and it was about to work.

"I'm not the mole, and I didn't do anything that they're accusing me of." Angela finally said as she breathed in deeply.

"The evidence says otherwise Agent Li. How do you explain the $300 000 in your bank account, and the phone records of you making calls to Chow Lee?" Horatio asked.

"I don't know! I'm being set up!" Angela said angrily.

"Angela, the money deposited in your account and the phone calls had been made over a period of time..." Horatio began to say.

"I didn't do it!" Angela said angrily and on the verge of tears. Horatio turned around towards the mirror afterwards.

"I need to say something to Agent Li, off the record, please." Horatio asked while Angela looked at him confusingly.

"Forget it Caine, she's in enough hot water already." Levi fired back through the speakers.

"I need to talk to her Daren because she's not guilty and as of right now everyone else on the FBI that's on this case is a suspect." Horatio answered back calmly.

"Caine's right. If Li's really the mole he'll find the evidence to support it. Right now, no one on our side can be trusted. Caine, I'm letting you handle this one, take Li into your custody as well." The Director said.

"ARE YOU KIDDING? There's already hard evidence on Angela!" Levi shouted angrily.

"I'd like my team to examine those records." Horatio said as he looked back at Angela who seemed stunned that someone would actually believe her.

"Levi, you're really trying my patience right now. Now I want the truth as much as you do, and as much as it pains me to have MDPD deal with this, Lieutenant Caine maybe on to something." The Director said sternly while staring down at Levi.

"Fine. This is a waste of time; we should be focusing on using Agent Li to flush Chow Lee out in the open! When it turns out that she's guilty, and Lee slips through our fingers again, you can blame yourselves." Levi said as he stormed out of the room.

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As soon as Horatio had arrived back at MDPD, he walked towards the AV Lab where Ryan and Dave were feverishly working on finding any discrepancies in Angela's phone and bank records.

"Mr. Benton, have you found anything yet?" Horatio asked walking into the lab.

"No nothing yet, all her records seem to appear legit; the bank records indicate that the money was wired from a Black Dragon account." Dave said frustratingly as he delved deeper in the files to reveal - anything.

"Mr. Wolfe?" Horatio asked as he turned his head towards Ryan.

"I found the same results, all the records seem legitimate." Ryan said as he pulled up Angela's phone records on screen.

"I sense a "but" coming on." Dave said as he smiled.

"_But_ I got to thinking; everything about this just seems too easy." Ryan noted then continued:

"We already suspect that someone else on the FBI is the mole and is framing Angela, but everything seems so sudden. I think the real mole suspects us getting close to catching him, so they're using Angela to divert the attention. And we've only finally gotten a leg up on the BD gang with the locations I found, correct?" Ryan said as Horatio and Dave nodded heads. Afterwards, Ryan started pulling up more files on the screen.

"That's correct Mr. Wolfe, the FBI and SWAT are penetrating and shutting each location as we speak. Hopefully, we'll be able to corner Lee's headquarters." Horatio answered.

"Ryan, what are you getting at here?" Dave asked.

"I'm taking Angela's phone records with Lee, and I'm comparing them to credit card transactions, video surveillance...." Ryan began as he typed on the keyboard.

"You're thinking that if Angela made any of these calls, she wouldn't be doing anything else." Horatio concluded.

"Exactly. Got it!" Ryan said as he pulled up surveillance footage of Angela at a grocery store, the bank, times she was using her credit cards and so forth.

"Sir, none of these footages match the times Agent Li was supposedly leaking information to Lee. She's not talking on a phone in any of these pictures." Dave noted.

"I'll tell you what, I'm going to trace the IP address on the phony bank statements and phone records and hopefully it'll lead us to the mole." Dave said as he started working his skills on the computer.

"I'll help you." Ryan offered, but swayed slightly when a wave of dizziness hit him.

"Whoa, Ryan are you alright?" Dave asked concerned as he helped steady Ryan.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Ryan insisted.

"Mr. Wolfe, remember I want you to take it easy. Which means light tasks only, alright?" Horatio said with a slight concern in his voice as well.

"Yeah, I got it." Ryan nodded, but felt that the last thing he needed was to be patronized. Horatio then left to go release Angela from custody.

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Angela sat in Horatio's office with a warm tea in her hands to help calm her nerves. She couldn't believe that someone she thought she knew and trusted would betray her and everything that being an agent stood for. And what pissed her off the most was the fact that she didn't have any hard proof as to who it was. However, this situation just proved yet again why she had always had a hard time trusting people, and how she is doomed to be an outsider for the rest of her life. Angela shook off the feeling; she refused to feel sorry for herself because it was a sign of weakness – one she would never let anyone see. Horatio walked in and sat down in his office, which was something that he didn't do often.

"How are you holding up?" Horatio asked Angela.

"I'll survive. Thank you for believing me Lieutenant. It's nice to see someone's got my back, except the irony of the situation is that it's someone I barely know." Angela shrugged and then answered.

"You should thank Mr. Wolfe for that. He's the one who convinced everyone that you weren't the mole." Horatio answered while looking down and smiling slightly.

"He's a really good person to have on your team – you're lucky." Angela answered while Horatio smiled in agreement.

"I'm sorry about my outburst earlier." Angela said apologetically

"There's no need for you apologize Agent Li." Horatio answered.

"Well I can't exactly go back to the FBI until the Mole's caught now can I?" Angela said to change the subject.

"Do you have any idea who it is?" Horatio asked

"One person comes in mind." Angela said as she nodded her head while making one of her "pissed off" faces as she was about to reveal who she thought was betraying the bureau.

"Hey guys, Ryan and I have figured out who set-up Agent Li. It's been staring us in the face all along! Who else would know about the case in detail and their way around computers?" Dave said as he burst into Horatio's office.

"Agent Trate." Horatio answered quietly.

"You took the words right out of my mouth." Angela answered.

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A/N: Hope you guys like the chapter! I know I said 48 hours – I lied obviously. I had a few kinks to work out of this one before I could post it. I'll be update within the week, until then ;)


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

A/N: Sorry for the delay, I had a bit of trouble forming the right words for this chapter. But hopefully, I did an okay job; it's not my finest, but it gets to the point. Thanks again for everyone's support and comments! Here's my latest, enjoy! Also, a special thank you to Mrs. Wolfe-Sanders who added me to her favourite Author's list :)

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Angela walked through the FBI headquarters along with Ryan, Tripp and some other officers. Although Angela didn't show it, she felt a personal satisfaction as she walked towards the Bureau AV Lab to Arrest Agent Steven Trate. She trusted him as an Agent and a colleague and he had framed her as a dirty FBI Agent and had her arrested. Now she was returning the favour. As soon as they had reached Trate's lab, everyone had stopped in their tracks when Trate was nowhere to be seen. Everyone was confused and angry as they were told Agent Trate was still in the lab, but they soon realized that he could have easily used his computer skills to hack into the FBI system and made it appear that he was still in the lab.

"He's not here." Ryan quietly said.

"Way to state the obvious, Wolfe." Angela answered back while Ryan raised an eyebrow at her.

"You know, I was _really_ looking forward to arresting someone today." Tripp added.

"Any ideas where Agent Trate is?" Ryan asked.

"No, but I'm betting he's with the enemy." Angela answered bitterly.

"You know what, I'm nowhere near as good as Dave when it comes to pulling cyber miracles, so why don't I take Trate's hard drive back to the crime lab and have him analyze it?" Ryan offered.

"I guess it's better than nothing. I'll put out a B.O.L.O on him." Angela said as she turned to walk out. However, she was blocked by the director of the FBI.

"Sir?" Angela asked inquisitively.

"We have a problem; Liotta's been poisoned in prison and is on his way to the hospital." The Director said.

-

-

The ambulance sped through Miami, while the paramedics inside tried to stabilize Carl Liotta. Nothing seemed to be working and time was running out. Liotta convulsed uncontrollably and was foaming at the mouth. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the ambulance slammed into something and everyone inside was thrown around. Shortly afterwards, gunshots and shouting started flying everywhere and everything seemed to happen so fast for the EMTs inside the ambulance. Without warning, the doors to the ambulance bay violently flew open and the EMT's were shot before they could even blink. Then two masked men hastily grabbed Liotta from his stretcher and began to drag him towards their black SUV. But unfortunately for them, Horatio had just arrived at that time and wasted no time in shooting the two men who were attempting to take Liotta. There must have been a panic amongst the other people who were involved in the attempted kidnapping, as all the remaining shooters jumped in their cars and sped away. Horatio then walked over to where Liotta laid on the ground and sighed as he put his hands on his hips.

_3 Hours later..._

Dr. Armstrong was now autopsying her latest victim in her morgue. She thought that the whole situation was ironic as she made her first cut into the man's chest. Carl Liotta was one of the most powerful men in Miami who was notorious with his ability to get out of any run in he had with the law. _Guess his luck finally ran out_, Leslie thought to herself. A few hours later Natalia went down to autopsy to see if Dr. Armstrong had come across anything with Liotta's body.

"Hey Dr. Armstrong, I know we haven't formally met yet, I'm Natalia Boa Vista." Natalia said as she nodded towards Leslie. She would have shaken her hand, if it were not 3 inches deep in guts.

"It's nice to meet you." Leslie said with a slight smile.

"So did you find anything other than the obvious on Carl over here?" Natalia said as she looked at Liotta's body.

"Well C.O.D. is definitely from poisoning. I've sent samples to trace, but I can tell you right now that it's some sort of anti-coagulant. He was bleeding from his mouth and nose and his blood was significantly thinned out when I was cutting into him." Dr. Armstrong explained.

"Thanks Dr. Armstrong, I'll head over to trace now." Natalia said as she smiled and turned. Dr. Armstrong continued with her autopsy.

-

-

Michael Travers was hard at work when Natalia walked in. However, she was surprised when she saw that Ryan was already there for the same reason she was. Natalia had to admit that she was surprised to see Ryan already hard at work so soon from being released from the hospital. The other part of Natalia however, was worried about Ryan because the one thing he didn't know to do was to take it easy. As Natalia walked over to where her co-workers were, she made a mental note to talk to Ryan privately later, and ask him to take a break, although she didn't know how well that would go. Ryan was probably one of the most stubborn human beings she had ever met in her life.

"Hey Ryan, looks like you've beat me to the punch. I'm assuming you're here about the poison Dr. Armstrong found on Liotta.

"Well actually I'm here waiting for you to find out what the results on the poison are; conflict of interest – the man shot me, remember?" Ryan answered.

"...And you couldn't just wait until I came to you?" Natalia asked

"I thought I'd save you a trip!" Ryan joked.

"Alright, alright – well at least you're not off the Black Dragon/Tiger 6 case. Travers, have you got the results yet?" Natalia joked then asked.

"They're just printing out now. You know I've never appreciated having two arms until now; it's quite hard to analyze different substances when one of them is in a sling." Travers said as he turned to get them.

"How is your arm doing anyways?" Ryan asked.

"Better, thank you. Although, I must admit my 'battle wounds' were nothing compared to yours. I'm glad you're doing better as well." Travers said sincerely.

"Thanks." Ryan said as he smiled.

"Alright boys, that was a lovely moment but can we get to the results already?" Natalia asked jokingly.

"Ha Ha, sorry Natalia, let me go retrieve them now." Travers said as he went over to the printing station.

"The poison used to kill Liotta was Arsenic: Rat Poisoning." Travers answered.

"Well that's not surprising; the prisons here are filled with it. This kind of reminds me of the Ivan Sarnoff case, doesn't it?" Natalia said.

"Yeah, well whoever did it probably got that idea from it." Ryan answered.

"Well, I think that the better question is: why would someone poison Liotta?" Natalia asked.

"The man does have a reputation. However, being who he is, I thought he would have been untouchable." Ryan answered.

"Yes he would have been, unless there's a bigger picture that we're missing here." Angela said as she walked with Horatio. Ryan suddenly hit a realization.

"We were so caught up with Liotta's poisoning that we completely forgot about the men who ambushed the ambulance." Ryan said.

"I thought that was because Lee's people had probably caught wind that Liotta had been poisoned, so it was their chance to bust him out." Natalia said matter of fact.

"I see what Ryan is getting at. You're thinking that Liotta was poisoned on purposed – that way it would ensure that he would be taken out of maximum security." Travers theorized as he looked over towards Ryan.

"But that still doesn't explain why Liotta was murdered." Angela added.

"Maybe that's because Liotta wasn't suppose to die." Horatio finally added.

"Oh my God, you're right. What if we're looking at this all wrong? What if Liotta was using Arsenic as a way to break out of prison?" Angela asked.

"Well one thing's for sure: he's going to get off of the attempted murder charge now." Ryan said while looking down. Although he didn't want to admit it, part of him was relieved that he wouldn't have to testify against Liotta in court anymore.

"Okay let's run with that theory for now. So what we're going to have to find out is what went wrong in the escape plan." Horatio said in his monotone voice.

"We also still need to find out where Trate is. Ryan would you mind coming with me to his apartment? Maybe we'll find something that'll lead us to his whereabouts?" Angela asked.

"I'd like to but I still need to be cleared by the brass first." Ryan answered while eyeing Horatio for approval.

"Mr. Wolfe, consider yourself cleared. This case has been dragging on for far too long and I want it to end." Horatio answered.

"That's great Horatio, thank you, but what about Stetler?" Ryan asked.

"Let me deal with Stetler. Go with Agent Li." Horatio ordered as both Angela and Ryan left to go and investigate Trate's house.

-

-

Angela looked over to Ryan while she sped through Miami towards Agent Trate's house. She thought about the uncomfortable silence her and Ryan had to experience during their first partnering together and now she was dealing with it again. Only except this time Ryan had fallen right asleep in the car. _Poor guy_, Angela thought, she had seen him walking down the hallways with a cane and knew that he was in more pain than he was letting on. She was a psychoanalyst after all, Angela thought to herself. And what Angela thought was Ryan Wolfe is one of those people who felt the need to have to constantly prove himself. However, the real question was: prove himself to who? He was already a fantastic criminalist in her opinion, but he seemed to isolate himself from others. That or he was a private person, and that was something Angela could relate to.

"Hey, sorry I fell asleep. Well, that was unprofessional." Ryan said as he wiped the sleep out of his eyes.

"That's alright. Besides, you needed it. You haven't rested since you've been back." Angela said while she kept her eyes on the road.

"What are you my mom?" Ryan asked sarcastically why Angela gave him a disapproving look.

"Well, you gave everyone quite a scare from what I've heard." Angela said as she kept her eyes on the road, and tried to avoid eye contact with Ryan.

"And since you're back out on the field, I want you at 100 percent." Angela finished.

"Thanks." Ryan said appreciatively, and then returned his gaze forward.

"You're welcome Wolfe. By the way, I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to come and visit you while you were at the hospital. I was trying to track down the people who were responsible for attacking your lab. I'm glad you're okay. Oh and thanks for clearing my name. Horatio told me that you were the only one who didn't think I was helping the enemy." Angela then added.

"Ha Ha you're welcome Li; you're not getting all soft now are you?" Ryan teased.

"Hell no! That was a onetime deal, Wolfe." Angela said as she smiled. Ryan knew that she obviously didn't mean it.

"Well, I guess this is a beginning of a beautiful friendship." Ryan said as he continued to look out the window.

"At least I have a _friend_ at MDPD. If you don't mind me asking, what's with your team? They seem to not like anyone who's not part of their 'CSI' club. Especially Calliegh Duquesne - I mean don't get me wrong, I know I'm a hard ass, but she REALLY seems to hate me. " Angela said as she raised an eyebrow.

"Don't take it too personally. I've been working there for almost 5 years now and I still feel like an outsider sometimes. Although, most of my differences are with Delko, but I try not to take anything to heart, we're all after the same goal anyways, and that's to catch the bad guys." Ryan answered.

"Well put Wolfe. Well at least you guys won't have to deal with me or the FBI anymore after this case is over. I'll go back to the bureau and do the paperwork for this case for the next decade, and you CSI's will move on to the next DB that comes your way." Angela said. Ryan just smirked. He enjoyed Angela's sarcasm. In fact it kind of reminded of someone he knew...

All of a sudden a large black van with tinted windows came out of nowhere and smashed itself into the passenger's side of Angela's car. The airbags immediately deployed; however, it didn't stop the car from rolling over a few times before it landed back in its upright position. Angela slowly moved her head to the right and opened her eyes to a small slit to check on her passenger. Ryan was completely out cold, and Angela could see that his head was bleeding, and so was hers. She then painful sat up and reached for the radio to call for help; _great the radio's busted_, Angela thought to herself as she reached in her pocket with her bloodied hands and grabbed her cell phone. She knew that she needed rescue and backup. However, Angela had to contemplate who to call at that moment then pressed some numbers into the dialling pad and waited as the phone rang. But before she could wait for an answer, both of the front car doors were ripped opened and she and Ryan roughly grabbed out of the car.

"_This is Lieutenant Horatio Caine how may I help you? ... Hello_?" Horatio said on the other line. No one answered back and a black van with tinted windows sped away from the scene.

-

-

A/N: I haven't decided how many chapters this story will be yet. However, we're nearing the climatic arc where some interesting revelations will be made. And of course, I couldn't just have Ryan recover nicely before throwing him in extreme danger again (lol! I feel like a bit of a sadist sometimes :S). More to come soon I promise! And if I don't post within 2 weeks, please message me to hurry it up!


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

* * *

A/N: Thanks for everyone's reviews and for everyone who's reading! I also apologise for the delay (again), I had severe writer's block and unfortunately, a car accident to deal with. And since this chapter is the most important in my opinion, I actually had to rewrite it several times and I'm still unsure if it's still "right", but it's here :) . Please enjoy and don't forget to give me some feedback – I could really use it, thanks!

_Italicised_ sentences = thoughts

* * *

Horatio stood by his latest crime scene with his hands on his hips and his gaze towards Calleigh, Eric and Natalia who were processing it. The next few hours seemed surreal for the team as they worked silently while collecting as much evidence as they could. Eric looked over at Natalia and could see that she was extremely uncomfortable swabbing the blood pattern on the passenger side of the car. Although, Eric knew that as CSIs they were used to seeing this stuff every day, it was different when you're processing a crime scene of someone you know. Eric shook his head at the images of his possibly hurt friend and then continued to snap pictures. There were more important things to worry about, and time was running out. Natalia had just finished collecting what she assumed was Ryan's blood on the dashboard. Although, as much as she didn't want to believe that the blood was his, Natalia knew that Ryan wouldn't had been driving; it was still too early and the doctor had told him not to drive. _He was still using a cane to walk around for God's sake! _Natalia then made a mental note to herself to not freak out; they were going to collect all the evidence, and then find Ryan and Angela in one piece! _Think positive!_ Natalia told herself over and over again, _Ryan's always had my back, and I definitely will have his_. Natalia glanced up to look at Calleigh for a minute and found that she had one of the most intense expressions on her face. In fact, one could even say that she looked angry – and she was. Calleigh was angry for a lot of reasons, and the more she thought about it, the angrier she became – at herself. She was angry at herself for not pushing Ryan further into telling her about his kidnapping with the Russians (1). She was angry that he was shot because of an inside job, and she was angry that she didn't offer to go to Agent Trate's apartment so that Ryan didn't have to go. She wouldn't have known what that would have accomplished, but at least Ryan would be safe for a change. He had gone through enough brushes with death. Calleigh then caught a lucky break when she discovered a few dark hairs on the floor carpeting. She immediately bagged them and brought them over to Natalia, who in turn rushed off to process the blood and hair samples at DNA. Although he didn't show it, Horatio was very concerned about the well being of his CSI. Of course, he knew what people in the lab had been talking about when they didn't think he was listening. They had all thought he favoured Calleigh and Eric over his other CSIs, and had always given them "special treatment," but that was a lie. He in fact, cared for all of his CSIs equally, and would do anything to protect them. He would never admit it, but his team was family. Growing up, Horatio never really knew what it was like to have that kind of relationship with his own. In fact, his relationship with his father was as abusive (both physical and emotional) as it was scarring. That's why he had made a promised to himself that no one should ever have to go through what he had to growing up, which is why he felt a special connection to Ryan. He could tell that Wolfe looked up to him like a son would look up to a father; Horatio even secretly questioned if Wolfe ever had a father figure to begin with. One thing was for sure: the kid was loyal. Maybe he was a little ambitious at times to prove himself, and would lack tactfulness when he acted, but Wolfe would never betray him and the team; and that was a fact that he found the rest of his team forgot at times. He remembered the exchange of words between himself and Mr. Wolfe when he came to reconciled with him during the time he was fired: _"I'm not going to abandon this team." "And __we__ Mr. Wolfe are not going to abandon you" _(2). And he definitely wasn't going to abandon him today; they were going get their CSI back.

* * *

Angela awoke with a start. However, she instantly regretted opening her eyes so suddenly, as a headache attacked her senses. Wincing at the pain, Angela remembered what had happened to her: _they were attacked_. Of course her first instinct after her realization was to check herself over, but she couldn't. Her hands were tied on the armrests of a metal chair she was sitting on, and so were her feet. Her second instinct was to see where Wolfe was. The last thing she remembered was seeing Ryan unconscious and bleeding; and as she looked straight across she saw that Ryan was still unconscious and bleeding. The difference this time was he was bound like she was, but looked a lot paler and sweatier than before.

"Ryan! Ryan, wake up!" Angela said in a loud whisper. She was surprised that she wasn't gagged. She soon realized that there was no need to be gagged, because they were in a place where no one would be able to hear them.

"Agent Li, I'm glad you're awake. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have the chance to finally meet you." Chou Lee said as he emerged from the darkness.

"How's my colleague? Has he been unconscious this entire time because he needs medical attention!" Angela demanded. However, he demands were met with a backhand slap to her face.

"Manners, Agent Li." Chow Lee said calmly as he rubbed his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you – how is Officer Wolfe?" Angela said through gritted teeth.

"He's alive - for now." Chow Lee answered as he circled where Angela was sitting.

"What do you want." Angela asked, although her question sounded more like an accusation.

"Well, besides meeting the one Agent who's been able to remotely track me down for three years (that's very impressive by the way), you're here because I need a couple of things from you." Chow Lee explained calmly and eerily.

"And what exactly is that?" Angela asked inquisitively while Chow Lee smiled smugly down at Angela.

"So smart yet so incredibly stupid." Chow Lee answered vaguely, and then continued. He expected more from Agent Li, but then again, he was always one step ahead of the FBI.

"I know that you've managed to secure another copy of all my properties, and I also know that that list is nowhere to be found on the FBI and MDPD databases. Where are they?" Lee demanded.

"You're too late. " Angela simply stated.

"What do you mean?" Lee answered slightly irritated.

"We knew that you were going to try and hack into our systems like you've done before. And since you had someone on the inside helping you, and giving you unlimited access to government files, I decided to play it old school and had your old fashion photocopies of the list made. As of right now everyone in the agency and all of the police precincts in South Florida are shutting down and arresting your men as we speak." Angela answered as she stared at Lee coldly. However, Lee just smirked.

"I'm impressed Agent, and you've managed to keep this from your team?" Lee asked.

"Well I can't exactly trust any of them right now can I?" Angela answered accusingly. Lee then grabbed a lock of Angela's hair and yanked her head backwards. Looking down at her, he could see the fire in her eyes and although he would never admit it, he respected the strength he saw in her. He let go of her hair and continued pacing around her.

"Well, that certainly complicates things a little, but no matter, I had every intention of disposing my properties (which I'm sure you were aware of anyways)." Lee answered.

"Please." Angela answered sarcastically, while Lee turned to face her.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Lee responded. Clearly he was annoyed, but looked as calm as ever.

"Someone as careful as you are would never want to not tie up any loose ends. Your whole plan this entire time was to destroy your entire empire so you could head the Tiger 6 gang; that's why you were liquidating your properties. But someone as greedy as you are would never want to just hand over his properties to the authorities, you'd want to squeeze out every cent that you can. And you'd want to leave your old gang with nothing financially to fall back on. " Angela said defiantly as she stared up at Lee. It was obvious that she had hit a nerve; Lee had a small twitch in his eye.

"You're not so stupid after all Agent Li; you've done your homework on me. Well, I suppose there's nothing left for me to do except reveal my whole "diabolical" plan to you. I'm sure you're anxious to know who's been betraying the bureau, hmm?" Chow Lee said as he played with a piece of Angela's hair. He was toying with her, but Angela knew that she needed to buy as much time as she could. And although she didn't show it, Angela hoped to God that Horatio and his team would find them in time.

"I know its Agent Trate, Lee. He was the one with access to all of our files, and the one who was familiar with our computer systems. It had been staring us down the nose the entire time, and his "mysterious" disappearance from the bureau just made it more obvious. Besides, you're going to reveal your plan either way – you enjoy rubbing it in. That's why you kept us alive and brought us here, isn't it?" Angela replied rhetorically; Lee smiled slightly.

"I'm impressed with your deductions. Let's just cut to the chase, why don't you humour me and explain why I brought you and Officer Wolfe here then?" Lee said evilly as he looked down at Angela.

"You brought us here because being who you are; you wouldn't tolerate having anyone or anything standing in your way. You only put up with me for this long because you had someone on my team working for you. And up until a few weeks ago when MDPD had a new lead on your case, you would have successfully liquidated all of your assets by now, and severed any ties you had with your Black Dragon gang. Then there's your brother..." Angela said as Lee's face flinched.

"He wasn't supposed to die was he? That whole poisoning scheme to get him out of prison didn't go according to plan, did it?" Angela asked as she glared up at Lee.

"My brother has always been careless when it came to the law, but it never meant he wasn't loyal to me. No, Carl wasn't suppose to die, he was only suppose to ingest a small amount of the arsenic, but being "Carl" he most likely poured a little too much on his breakfast. Then again, my brother wouldn't be dead if Mr. Wolfe over there didn't video record my brother in the lab. After all, he was there to help me." Lee said as he turned to look at Ryan.

"Your brother is a criminal and a murderer!" Angela said angrily; she received another head slap for that. She then waited a few seconds for the tension to go away before she said something again.

"What was the other thing?" Angela asked quietly, as Lee looked at her with an unnerving calmness.

"You said you needed a "couple of things" from me – what was the second thing?" Angela asked.

"Well isn't it obvious? I need you and Mr. Wolfe to die." Lee answered back calmly.

* * *

Natalia walked into the AV Lab while Dave Benton was working very hard on cleaning up the call Angela made to Horatio shortly before her and Ryan were abducted. In all honesty, Dave didn't really know what he was looking for, but anything at this point was better than nothing, especially when time was of the essence. So far, he had managed to clean up the audio file, and had discovered that more than one person was involved in Angela and Ryan's abduction. Now, he was separating the voices that were all jumbled together so that he could run it through a voice recognition analysis.

"Dave, have you found any matches yet?" Natalia asked impatiently.

"I've managed to decipher and separate 4 distinct voices in the phone call Angela made. I then separated those voices into individual frequencies and I'm now running them through a vocal recognition program." Dave said confidently as he and Natalia looked on large screen in front of them. The software then stopped and showed that there was a match found. In fact, there was a match found for all of the voices.

"Oh my God, I can't believe this! I'll call Horatio and the FBI director right away." Natalia said as she took out her cell phone and rushed out of the lab. Dave just stood there dumbfounded by what he just found.

* * *

Angela as left alone with Ryan again. She was confused as to why Chow Lee had left them there right after he told her that they were essentially brought here to die. In fact, she was surprised that Lee didn't just pull out a gun and shoot her and Ryan on the spot after he made his comment. Then it hit her; he said he was going to reveal everything to her – she would finally know everything that she had worked so hard to find out in three years, and she would finally find out who was the FBI mole. However, the sad realization was that once everything would be revealed to her, there would be no reason to keep her alive anymore. In fact, Angela was pretty sure that somewhere in Lee's sociopathic mind he had planned this all along so that he could show her everything he had done to manipulate the FBI, and his own empire to gain power – to show her how smart he was, and how he was about to win this game they had been playing for so long. That was what everything was to him – to win.

She had done a background check on Lee and remember reading that prior to his adoption, he was left at an orphanage in mainland China as an infant. Of course being male, he was lucky to be adopted quickly by Liotta's parents. However, he had known early on that the adoption was a just a tactic move made by his foster parents to look good in "high-society" for adopting an orphan out of charity. His parents had ignored him for the better part of his life, and his brother Carl as well. That's how the two became close; with parents hardly around and being away at boarding school for long periods of time, the two became close, and shared the same animosity towards their parents. Of course, there was no limit as to what the two could do when the Liotta`s died in a plane crash, leaving their fortune to the two - guess they did care about Lee after all when they left him a little over 200 million dollars, the rest of the fortune of course went to their own flesh and blood: Carl. Angela's thoughts were interrupted when she heard a groan across the room from her. She looked up and saw that Ryan was finally coming to. _Thank God_, she thought – the guy had sustain enough injuries and now with a possible concussion added to that list, she was afraid that he may not be able to handle whatever Lee had in store for them.

"Ryan, Ryan! Are you okay?" Angela asked in a concerned voice, while Ryan groaned once more and slowly opened his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What happened?" Ryan asked as he looked around confusingly.

"Lee's men ambushed us when we were driving." Angela answered.

"Do you have any idea where we are?" Ryan asked.

"I'm not sure, but judging from the lack of noise, I'm guessing somewhere far from civilization." Angela said.

"How long have we been here?" Ryan asked tiredly.

"I'm not sure." Angela answered. She wanted to tell Ryan that she had made a phone call to Horatio prior to their abduction and that hopefully, the CSI team were looking for them, but she wasn't even sure if the call she made had even made it to Caine. That, and she didn't want to alert Lee that Miami-Dade was looking for them either. Ryan then suddenly made a pained expression on his face, and closed his eyes tightly, which worried Angela even more.

"Ryan, are you sure you're alright? You're really pale right now." Angela said concerned.

"I'm fine, Angela. We need to concentrate on getting out of here, or stalling. I'm sure the others will have noticed that we're missing." Ryan said, trying to stay positive.

However, Angela wasn't buying it – Ryan was in more pain then he was letting on. Bu the was right; they had to focus on finding a way out of here, or at least buying enough time for Horatio and the others to find them before it was too late. All of a sudden Lee walked in with four of his men walking behind him - four familiar men. Angela was in complete disbelief when she saw Agents Levi, Turn, Coate, and Desert enter the room. Ryan on the other hand was trying hard not to lose consciousness again and was feeling sicker by the minute.

"It's shocking isn't it Angela? Here you thought Trate was the mole (you were right by the way, he was), but what you didn't know was that we were all in it the entire time." Daren said as he walked up to Angela who was now glaring at Daren with disgust.

"How could you? You're not only betraying the oath you took, but your country as well!" Angela said angrily.

"Well that's really easy Angela. See when you're offered 50 million per person to retire early and disappeared to say Mexico, actually make that Switzerland (I hear it's pretty there all year round), you get to thinking: "gee, why the hell not?" It's not like our government is doing a whole lot to help our own economy in this day in age anyways. And I for one am sick of doing all of the dirty work, while getting none of the credit with you going all "super-agent" on the team. Do you know how embarrassing it is for your subordinate to outshine you constantly? Oh and don't get me started on your self-righteousness on the subject of good and evil, because at the end of this day I'm going to be on the next private flight to paradise while you're body is rotting somewhere." Daren said as he leant dangerously close to Angela's face.

"Where's Agent Trate" Angela stated trying to change the subject.

"Steve has gone out swimming – permanently. He became a liability as soon as he let his IP address slip into Miami-Dade's hands. It was suppose to be a simple job. After I had my highest ranking officials killed on the pier; Agent Trate was to liquidate all of my Black Dragon assets, while everyone else in my organization would deflect their attention towards the Tiger 6's. Of course, it would have been a lost cause since I was cutting off their resources left and right and by the time they would have figured it out, it would have been too late, all of those factions would have been divided and left with nothing. And being who I am, I would have eventually found whoever was left and would have eliminated them as well." Chow explained.

"That's why you had Agent Song murdered. You'd originally thought you would peg him as the mole. The only problem was that Angela had informed him about the break in the case which set you guys back." Ryan finally said. Everyone turned around to face the injured CSI.

"Very good Detective Wolfe, I see you're worth killing after all." Lee responded.

"Was Edward even part of this crap?" Angela asked while glaring up at the men.

"No, he wasn't. He was supposed to be our patsy, but you and Wolfe boy over there got to him first, and we couldn't risk him finding out our plan. You know I have to hand it him; he did some pretty shady things while he thought we didn't know about him. Who knew?" Daren explained. Although at this point, Daren was beginning to sound crazier by the minute.

"So you murdered Steven since everybody thought he was the mole anyways. That way, it would have diverted our attention giving you guys enough time to leave the country." Angela said.

"Bingo. We even tried to frame you, but thanks to Wolfe and his team they found out pretty quickly that you'd never do anything to insult your brother's memory, correct?" Lee said as Angela's eyes flinched, the topic of her brother as a touchy subject.

"But we realized that with you around, you'd never stop hunting us. You and the bureau would have eventually figured out that we were part of all this. I say it's time to end this once and for all. Oh and Angela, in case you haven't realized by now – you've lost." Daren said as he smiled evilly

* * *

A/N: (1) is a reference to the episode(s): Target Specific/Wolfe in Sheep's clothing, (2) is a reference to the episode: "Kill Switch." No copyright infringement intended.

A/N: the next chapter is basically a continuation of this chapter, and I'm typing ferociously as we speak...read (well you know). I decided to split the two up since this chapter was dragging on in my opinion.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

* * *

Of course, I couldn't help myself and added a fire/bomb scene because let's face it: it wouldn't be CSI: Miami if someone wasn't trapped or killed in a fire/bomb sequence :P Better yet, it wouldn't be CSI: Miami if _Ryan_ wasn't always trapped in a fire/bomb scene. And again, sorry about the late updates!

As always, please R&R :)

* * *

Valera raced down the hall to where Eric and Calleigh were frantically sorting out the evidence from Ryan and Angela's crime scene. The entire lab was once again thrown into utter chaos as every investigation was put into a halt until Ryan and Angela were found, and Lee was brought to justice once and for all. At this point, the FBI (along with the MDPD) was closing in on the Black Dragon gang and into all their hideouts. Dave proved his computer skills even further when he managed to find a mountain of evidence on the BD Gang when Agent Trate's computer was recovered from his home. As it turned out, he had kept several files on Lee – mostly financial transactions, but enough to bring him down for several felonies.

"Hey guys, I just finished analyzing the DNA on the hairs you found in the car and it came back a match to Steven Trate. It looks like he had something to do with Ryan and Agent Li's abduction" Valera said out of breath.

"Okay, well that's not surprising; he's the mole after all." Eric said as he looked at a piece of evidence more closely.

"Have you guys found anything?" Valera asked as she was concerned for Ryan as well.

"Nothing; all the prints we found came back to Ryan and Angela, and they were driving in an area where there weren't any traffic cams. We have nothing to go on!" Eric said angrily as he threw the evidence bag onto the table.

"Eric, calm down. We need to refocus. Remember, we still have the phone call from Angela's cell. That means that they were still alive before they were taken." Calleigh said as she put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Just then Dave busted into the room also out breath:

"Guys, you're never going to believe this! I finished analyzing the phone call Angela made to Horatio and found 4 voices in the background. I ran them for matches, and they ALL came up as matches to Angela's team!"

"Wait, hold on a second, so you're telling us that Daren Levi and everyone else on his team was involved in the kidnapping and is probably in league with Lee?" Calleigh asked surprised.

"Well everyone besides Angela that is. She was cleared, remember? They probably planted all that money in her bank account to throw us off and have her take the fall for all of this." Eric replied with his theory which was correct.

"Do we have any idea where they could have taken them?" Calleigh asked, while Dave pulled out his portable laptop.

"Yeah, I just told Natalia and Horatio. Tripp, SWAT and FBI are already heading towards the location. I also isolated a sound of a car (the getaway car I'm assuming), I then matched the sound of directionality the car made, and overlapped it onto a map. It looks like they were heading towards the everglades." Dave began.

"But that still doesn't give us an exact location!" Eric suddenly said.

"Maybe not, but I used Ryan's location list for Black Dragon hideouts and it turns out Lee had acquired an abandoned warehouse out there. That could be where they could have taken Ryan and Angela." Dave suggested.

"Or it's the perfect place for a body du..." Valera said fearing the worst.

"Don't even say it, Valera!" Eric said as he shut his eyes not wanting to think about the worst case scenario.

"I'm sorry; I know I should be more optimistic – it's only been a few hours..." Valera apologized.

"Have Horatio and Tripp left?" Calleigh asked.

"Yes, Natalia went and told Horatio and are on their way. She went as soon as it was o.k'ed. You guys should head out and join them now. Everyone else is going to be paged momentarily anyways." Dave informed.

"Thanks Dave, come on let's go." Calleigh said to Eric as they headed towards their lockers to grab their guns and badges and then to the nearest hummer.

* * *

Angela and Ryan sat helplessly tied to their seats while they watched Lee's men douse the entire warehouse with gasoline. Before that, Ryan landed several hard punches from Lee who was obviously still angered by his brother's death. Angela's eyes were watery and she was sweaty all over while she tried to steady her breathing. Her wrists were swollen and bleeding from trying to get free and she knew that she was starting to show signs of panic. She was starting to believe that this would be the end. Horatio and his team wouldn't get here on time. This would be the end for her and what did it all accumulate too? She realized she would never get the justice for her brother and all the other people deaths that Chow Lee was responsible for would never have closure. On the other hand, Ryan looked near passed out and was trying hard not to lose consciousness. With a head injury like the one she assumed he had, Angela was amazed that he was holding on as long as he was. However, she could tell that Ryan was one of those incredibly defiant types. Even though he looked like death, he still maintained that that cold hard stare at Lee and Levi that said "_you'll never get away with this_". It was also obvious who had and hadn't given up at that point. Daren dumped the last bit of gasoline around the main gas line and placed the empty can onto the ground. He then walked towards Angela and Ryan with a box of matches held in his hand.

"Well I guess this is it. As soon as I light this up it shouldn't take too long before the heat from the fire causes the gas pipe to explode. Then it's all over; they'll probably need dental records to identify you two – well, if there's any left to identify that is. Now if you'll excuse me, I have plane to catch Agent Li. Goodbye." Daren said as he smirked.

He then took a match from the packet, lit it then threw it to one end of the warehouse. Everything ignited instantly as Daren walked out of the warehouse to join the others outside. The heat from the flames was unbearable as they engulfed the entire warehouse almost immediately. Angela tried desperately one more time to free herself from her restraints but it was no use. Shortly afterwards, she and Ryan began to cough violently as the flames engulfed the already thick air. She could feel herself getting lightheaded and fought to keep her eyes open, but she couldn't anymore. The last thing she heard before losing consciousness were the sounds of gunshots in the air.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

* * *

- Enjoy, and don't forget to review please!

* * *

_10 minutes before..._

Horatio, Natalia and Tripp along with the rest of the SWAT team waited in position. They had the entire building surrounded, but what they didn't know was that they could have a potential explosion on their hands. Luckily, as soon as they smelled smoke, Horatio called the fire department and waited impatiently for whoever was inside to come out. They were also hoping that that there was a big chance that Chow Lee and the FBI agents were inside as well – and they were right. As soon as they walked out, Horatio determined they were the only ones coming out of a building on fire and ordered the rest of the SWAT members to move into position.

"We should get going. The building is going to explode soon and I want to be in the clear before it does." Lee stated while walking towards the door leading to their freedom.

"Yeah, sounds good. Well it looks like the end of our partnership. We agents will "disappear" and you can start ruling your new gang from afar." Daren said as he held out his hand for Lee to shake; he accepted.

"And thank you Agent Levi, or should I say Mr. Levi now. I've updated all of your bank accounts to 35 million dollars each." Lee stated.

"I thought we agreed to 50 million, Lee." Levi answered back angrily.

"Consider it a consequence for your mistake with the lab invasion and my brother." Lee answered as he stared at Levi daring him to say something defying.

"Fine, I'm in too deep anyways. That and I want to get out of Florida as soon as possible." Levi answered as they finally reached the outside of the warehouse.

"I'll be seeing you never then." Lee said as he began to walk towards his car.

All of the sudden, several SWAT team members surrounded them and began to shout for them to get down on the ground and put their hands on their head. However, several gunshots came from Lee's men as they decided that they wouldn't go down without a fight. It was a futile event as those men were gunned down quickly, while Levi, Lee and the other FBI agents stood there in complete shock that it was over so fast.

"HANDS ON YOUR HEADS AND GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES NOW!" a bunch of SWAT members screamed all at once. Lee, Levi and the others reluctantly did as they were told. Horatio immediately ran up to them upholstering his gun.

"Where are they?" Horatio demanded, but Lee just smirked instead. Horatio then looked towards the burning warehouse with a frightening realization.

"Frank call rescue. I'm going in to get them." Horatio said as he started to walk towards the burning warehouse.

"No Horatio, it's too dangerous. You'll never make it out alive let alone with two other people." Frank said as he held onto Horatio's arm.

"Frank, I have to try and save them." Horatio said as he moved his arm away from Frank's grasp, but it was then replaced by another.

"I'm going in with you." Eric said out of breathe as he and Calleigh had just made it to the crime scene.

"Me too." Calleigh said right afterwards and started towards the warehouse as well.

"No Calleigh, you can't! It's too dangerous, and you've had respiratory problems before." Eric said as he looked into Calleigh's eyes one more time before running towards the burning building with Horatio. At that point, Calleigh felt useless as she couldn't go and help her friend, but Eric was right. If she were to have gone inside with them she would have become a liability.

"HORATIO, THEY'RE OVER THERE!" Eric shouted as he pointed to Ryan and Angela's unconscious forms.

"Ryan's pulse is weak! C'MON WOLFE! STAY WITH ME!" Eric said as he checked over his friend. He then got out his Swiss-Army knife and began cutting away Ryan's restraints.

"Eric we have to hurry. That gas line is about to explode." Horatio said trying to remain calm. He then cut away the last of Angela's restraints and then picked her up in his arms. Eric tried to do the same with Ryan but he was too heavy, so he ended up carrying him in a fireman's hold. They began running as fast as they could towards the opening, while they heard the pressure building up in the gas line. If they didn't make it out of there quick enough, they weren't going to make it out period.

* * *

While waiting impatiently outside, Calleigh wanted nothing more than to put a bullet through Lee's head but decided to focus on the more important issue. Ryan was still trapped inside and now so was Eric and Horatio. She only hoped that they would be able to make it out in time. The EMTs had made it out to the location in record time and were standing by. Calleigh and Natalia breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Horatio and Eric carrying Ryan and Angela out of the burning warehouse right before it finally exploded.

The EMT's rushed towards to take Ryan and Angela off Horatio and Eric's hands. They made sure that Horatio and Eric were okay and then focussed primarily on Angela and Ryan. For the most part Horatio and Eric were alright with just some minor smoke inhalation. Angela was unconscious and needed oxygen and had a minor concussion but seemed fine for the most part. She was then whisked away in one of the ambulances, leaving the others behind. Ryan's injuries on the other hand were more serious as his old ones were worsening his condition. At current, he was having trouble breathing on his own due to the smoke inhalation and the EMTs suspected that he may be bleeding internally.

Horatio and the team felt bittersweet as they knew that this case was now officially over. However, there were too many casualties with two of their colleagues almost joining that list. Tripp and Horatio agreed to bring Lee and Levi in for questioning, while the others would go to the hospital to see how Ryan and Angela were doing.

* * *

Horatio, Tripp and Stetler sat across from Lee while the FBI was in to the process of interrogating Levi's team. There was an air of arrogance in the way that Lee sat and stared into the two men that had finally caught him. Horatio as calm as ever, just looked down at his sunglasses in his hands.

"You can quit smiling now. We've got you for fraud, money laundering, the illegal possession and selling of weapons and as well as drugs, and a whole other list of felonies that will take me at least a day to read out for you." Stetler began as he threw down a thick file onto the table.

"Oh and let's not forget the kidnapping and attempted murder of a police officer and a federal agent will get you life in prison alone." Frank added.

"You can't prove anything. So you've managed to build evidence on the Black Dragon gang – Good for you. I no longer have connections towards this organization anyways. Oh, and I didn't start that fire in the warehouse. You can use your little toys to test me for any flammable agents if you want." Chow answered back while holding out his hands.

"You were there Lee – You didn't pour the gasoline that ignited the flames, but you may as well have." Stetler said while resting his head on his arm out of frustration.

"Where's my lawyer" Lee demanded all of a sudden.

"You sir, don't get one." Horatio answered.

"AND WHY THE HELL NOT?" Lee asked angrily.

"Because you're not an American citizen, you don't get the same rights. And with all the weapons smuggling you're involved in, the government has also discovered that you may be involved in terrorist activities." Horatio answered.

"You have no proof of any terrorist activity." Lee said as his eyes narrowed.

"They don't need any. Any sort of suspicion lands you in the hot seat, and according to the FBI you've been suspected for a while. The drugs and the money were just the backbone to the case they were building on you." Stetler added, while Lee looked at him with slight confusion.

"Were?" Do I have to remind you, that there's nothing tying me to these crimes that you're accusing me of?" Lee said.

"Oh right, we almost forgot to tell you: we've got some serious evidence on your accounts. I guess you weren't not the only one that's computer savvy. Agent Trace kept files on you the entire time he and the rest of his FBI team were working for you." Tripp said sarcastically.

"My theory is: Trate keep these files on you in case you ever double-crossed him. The ironic part is that you didn't. You kept your end of the bargain, except you had Trate killed in order to prevent suspicion on the FBI moles. Otherwise, Trate would be here right now wouldn't he? And I'm also guessing you planted his hairs in the hummer to divert the suspicion on a dead man. I'll even bet that Agent Levi and the others will corroborate that story. " Horatio said.

"I underestimated Agent Trate. I thought I had my bases covered and I even had his computers wiped of anything involving me." Lee answered.

"You almost did, but Trate hid these files using a ghostfacer encryption. We almost didn't even catch it if it weren't for one of our computer specialists." Horatio added.

"Very well done Lieutenant, you've managed to take down one of the most dangerous gangs from Hong Kong." Lee said as he leant back on his chair.

"And we're about to take down another one." Horatio added while Lee looked surprised.

"It looks like Steven Trate kept tabs on more than the Black Dragon gang, he also kept tabs on the Tiger 6 gang shortly after you took over." Horatio then added.

"Why would I have a connection towards a rival organization?" Lee asked rhetorically and hence, denying he had anything to do with the Tiger 6's.

"You set up a private meeting between the Tiger 6 leader and his higher ranking officials and yourself and then you had them poisoned." Horatio stated then added.

"Trate had your meeting taped with a small wireless camera. In fact, he was there wasn't he? How else could he have gotten it in without detection?" Horatio finished saying while Lee had a flashback of Trate wearing the camera on his blazer. It was disguised as a tie pin.

"You realized that your own gang was deteriorating by the second so you decided to take over your rival gang in order to remain in power. The only problem was that someone else was already running that organization and you needed him out of the way. So you arranged a meeting probably to discuss some B.S. truce between your gangs and you ended up poisoning them instead." Stetler concluded.

"Take him." Horatio said as an officer forced Lee to stand and cuffed him. Lee was furious and never left eye contact with Horatio until he was out the interrogation room where U.S. Marshals were waiting to transport their prisoner.

Their they were met by Levi and the other agents who were finished in the interrogation room as well and were now heading to the same place Lee was: prison.

"This isn't over Caine." Lee said as he stopped in front of the black unmarked van that would be taking him and the others away for good.

"It is for now." Horatio said as he watched the car door close.

* * *

It was all over as the FBI would finish shutting down the last of the Black Dragon's operations and hide outs and would begin shutting down the Tiger 6's as well. The good news was the FBI would be going after the Tiger 6 gang alone and therefore, ending their joint taskforce. No one could be more relieved that Horatio who was glad his lab would be returning to normal. Though, he couldn't help but be worried about the well-being of his CSI and Agent Li who were taken to the hospital and still with no word yet on the extent of their injuries. As soon as Horatio was finished with tying up the loose ends on the case he and Tripp would go and see how they were doing.

* * *

Horatio saw the rest of his team sitting in the waiting room waiting for the doctors to give them any news about Ryan and Angela. It just so happened that at the very same moment the news was on and Stetler, along with the Director of the FBI were giving an address to the press:

"_Today, the Miami Dade Police Department along with the FBI in a joint taskforce have brought one of the most notorious crime bosses in the world to justice. As of 11 am this morning, we have apprehended Chow Lee (the former head of the Black Dragon crime organization and current head of the Tiger 6 crime organization). He has been charged with money laundering, the conspiracy on the attempted murder of a Federal Agent, the conspiracy in the attempted murder of a police officer, first degree murder, drug smuggling, human trafficking, weapons smuggling, conspiracy on the destruction of government property, and is suspected to be connected to terrorist activity. At this point, the crime organization known as the Black Dragon gang has cease to exist as we have rounded the last of its members and have charged them accordingly. The FBI however, will continue to bring down the Tiger 6 gang after more information on the whereabouts of their bases have surfaced earlier this afternoon. We would like to thank the FBI for their efforts in aiding us with this case. I'm sure you've heard by now, our crime lab was attacked earlier this month and we're glad that the parties involved in this incident are finally being brought into justice. We would also like to send our condolences to the FBI as they have lost one of their own Agents during this investigation. We have also discovered that members of the FBI team that was originally investigating this case were also involved in a conspiracy to help Chow Lee deflect the investigation against him, and on the attack on the Miami Dade Crime Lab. Thank you all."_ Stetler said as he stepped off the podium looking as smug as ever. Of course, there was no surprise there since the team knew Stetler loved the media attention and the credentials it gave him and MDPD.

"So I'm guessing Levi and his team copped to murdering Steven Trate and Edward Song?" Eric asked in order to break the silence in the waiting room.

"As a matter of fact they did. It was the only way the DA was going to even consider a deal. However, they refused to comment on anything regarding their activities with Lee. Not that it matters anyways since Agent Trate kept tabs on everything Levi and the rest of the FBI team did with the Black Dragon Gang." Horatio explained.

"Well, if I were them I wouldn't have said anything about the BD gang either. It would have meant a death sentence in prison. But like Horatio said, not that it matters anyways." Frank added.

"How long has it been?" Calleigh asked glancing at her wrist watch.

"A couple of hours – Angela's apparently regained consciousness and is asking for updates on Ryan." Natalia answered.

"This is unbelievable. He had only just gotten out of this place." Eric said in frustration as he put his head in his hands.

"Yeah, I know." Calleigh said in agreement. Just then Alexx walked towards them hopefully with some news about Ryan.

"Alexx, any news on Mr. Wolfe?" Horatio asked.

"He sustained head trauma from the car accident and he's got some massive size bruises all over his body that have aggravated his previous injuries. He also suffered smoke inhalation and was bleeding internally but we were lucky to have caught it in time. " Alexx said.

"Is he awake?" Eric asked.

"He's still unconscious right now, but he'll make a full recovery. However, it may take a while for him to get there so just be patient." Alexx answered then gave Eric a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder.

"Thank Alexx, can we see him?" Calleigh asked.

"Of course you can, he's in recovery right now but try and keep it brief AND one at a time. He needs his rest alright?" Alexx said while the other nodded in agreement.

* * *

After much debate, it was decided that Horatio would go in to see Ryan first. As he walked into the room he noticed that someone was already standing by Ryan's bedside already. It was Angela, she was in a hospital gown and had a bandage wrapped around her head. She looked roughed, but all in all, if she was able to stand on her own, then she was okay.

"Agent Li." Horatio said to announce himself, while Angela turned around to face him. She had some bruises around her face but she seemed to be alright.

"Lieutenant Caine. I snuck out of my room to see how Ryan was doing, please don't tell the nurses. They're uh, kind of scary." Angela joked in order to ease the tension.

"I won't. How are you doing otherwise?" Horatio asked.

"I'm okay, considering the alternative. God, I can't believe all of this happened." Angela said in frustration.

"Angela, you couldn't have known." Horatio said.

"But it was right in front of me the entire time. The people that I work with and see every day were responsible for this – all of this." Angela added.

"Well at least it's all over now. We apprehended Lee, Levi and everyone else on your team. They'll be charged and dealt with accordingly." Horatio said, while Angela nodded and looked back at Ryan's unconscious form. He had a breathing mask on his face and a bandage on the right side of this forehead. Besides the fact that he was pale, he otherwise looked peaceful.

"You know, while we were trapped in that fire, I could still see that Ryan didn't give up even after I had. Lieutenant, I can't tell you how envious I am of the people you have on your team. You have each other's back and it's really rare to find a team as cohesive as yours." Angela said as she turned to leave the room.

"Mr. Wolfe is going to be just fine, Ms. Li, and so are you." Horatio said while Angela nodded again and suppressed her tears.

"Thank you for everything again, Lieutenant Caine." Angela said and then walked out.

"You're quite welcome Ms. Li." Horatio said to himself.

* * *

A/N:

-Wasn't really sure if Lee would have been eligible for legal counsel or not (Canadian here!), but in my story he doesn't :P

-Also, there's no such thing as a ghostfacer encryption – I made it up and "borrowed" the name from CSI New York's AJ Buckley's web series.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

* * *

A/N: Well this is the last chapter for this story. I already have another in the works and I'll look forward to starting that soon. I really want to thank everyone for reading and especially to anybody who reviewed the story! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

P.S. Someone had asked me before where I had gotten the title "11 am" from. As it turned out, I happened to be listening to an Incubus CD when I began the first chapter and seeing as I didn't have a title yet, I decided to name this story after the song that I was listening to at that moment, which was 11 am. Somehow when I heard this song I imagined it playing in the background during the first chapter for this story and I think it just worked. So my readers, if you have the time, check out the song "11 am" by Incubus if you can; maybe it's just me but I think it's quite "befitting" for the CSI: Miami universe :)

...And thank you again!

* * *

Ryan walked slowly into the usually busy MDPD lab. He had been released after a long two weeks in the hospital. He was currently on sick leave until he was fully recovered, but decided that he would stop by the lab and visit everyone because he was going out of his mind with boredom. On the other hand, Ryan was in no rush to get back to work. He had been nearly killed twice in the last month and had spent most of his time in a hospital bed and he was determined not to go back to that anytime soon. More so, Alexx had given him a stern warning about taking it easy, or else the next time he was in the hospital again she'd give him a sponge bath. The thought of that made Ryan shudder – a lot. He hadn't been bathed by anyone since he was 4, so he thought it best not to try Alexx. He was warmly welcomed by Danielle the receptionist as she gave him a hug, but told her not to tell anyone that he was here. He wanted to surprise everyone even if he was going to have to do it limping slowly with a crutch in one hand. But on a more serious note, Ryan did actually have another reason as to why he came to the lab. He needed to talk to Horatio.

"Ryan?" Michael Travers said as he saw his co-worker walk past the trace lab.

"Travers! Hey buddy, how are you doing?" Ryan said as they shook each other's hand and patted each other on the back.

"OWW!" They both screamed in unison as they momentarily forgot that they were still healing from their injuries.

"Sorry Ryan, are you alright there?" Travers asked concerned.

"I'm good; I see your arm's still a bit sore?" Ryan said as he squinted from the pain.

"Yes it still hurts, but it's healing. Thank you." Travers replied while he rubbed his shoulder.

"Not that I'm complaining, but why are you here? I thought you were still on sick leave?" Travers asked.

"I am, but I thought I'd come by and see everyone. I was going stir crazy at home. Is everyone here, or are they out in the field?" Ryan asked

"No they're all here processing the latest case. I'm sure they're going to be very excited to see you." Travers said while Ryan nodded.

"Is Horatio around? I need to tell him something." Ryan asked vaguely.

"Um, yes I believe so, but I'm afraid I don't know where he is exactly." Travers answered with an inquisitive look on his face.

"Is there something pressing you need to talk to him about?" Travers asked concerned.

"Um yes and no - I just need to ask him something private." Ryan answered even more vaguely, while Travers continued to stare at him wondering if he would tell him anything more. He didn't.

"Alright, well it was nice seeing you. I'll be back in another week so don't get too comfortable around here without me alright?" Ryan joked as he patted Travers good shoulder and continued his search for Horatio.

Ryan was walking down the hall until he stopped in his tracks. He was right in front of the lab room he was shot in. He shuddered when he thought back to that day and tried to erase the memory from his mind. He then looked upwards and saw Horatio down the hall and went to catch up to him, but not before he was stopped by some familiar faces.

"Hey Wolfe, what are you doing here?" Eric said as he bumped into his co-worker. Word had travelled fast as more people came out to see what the commotion was about. Calleigh, Natalia, Dave, and Valera were glad to see Ryan and asked how he was doing. They also apologised for not being able to visit him more often since there were still a lot of loose ends to tie up with the Chow Lee case, and because there was a lot of back logging with all other their other cases. Ryan told them that he understood and that he was fine, but at the same time, he also felt neglected though he would never admit to it. He had pretty much dealt with his ordeal himself, but then again he was use to dealing with things by himself. After some brief conversation and some catching up, Ryan set out again to find his boss. However, it was Horatio who found him.

"Mr. Wolfe." Horatio said as Ryan turned around to face his boss. He winced a little from the pain that shot up his side, but tried to hide it as well as he could in front of Horatio.

"H hey, I was just coming to find you." Ryan said as he straightened up.

"Mr. Wolfe, why are you here? You should be resting right now." Horatio said in his flat voice, although Ryan knew that his boss was concerned on the inside.

"I know, but I came because I really needed to talk to you. It's about the team." Ryan began vaguely as Horatio sparked some curiosity in his face and listened.

* * *

_3 hours earlier..._

Angela looked up towards the clock on the wall which read 11 o'clock and then looked down again while the FBI Board of Trustees looked back at her, waiting for her to say something – anything. Both parties sat in silence for a while, and if anything, Angela's superiors kind of thought she was being ungrateful. They had not only acquitted her of any involvement with Chow Lee, but had also given her an accommodation for solving the case. After the Black Dragon/Tiger 6/Chow Lee case was on its way of being closed forever, Angela was offered a promotion to command her very own team, but interestingly enough she turned it down.

"Agent Li, you _do_ realize what you're giving up aren't you?" The FBI Director said to her.

"Yes Sir I am." Angela responded calmly, while the Director leant back in his chair and sighed heavily.

"Agent Li, Angela – this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and you're just going to throw it all away?" The Director asked.

"Yes sir." Angela responded as stoically as she could.

"Very well Agent Li, we'll reconvene late this week to discuss your reassignment then." The Director said as he and the others got up and began to pack up their files.

"Sir, there's one more thing." Angela suddenly said as she looked up.

"Agent Li?" The Director asked surprisingly as Angela got up and walked towards him. She then walked over to the long table The Director stood at, unhooked her gun, her badge and placed it on the table in front of him.

"I'm resigning, Sir. Thank you for everything." Angela said quietly as she gave the shocked director a reassuring nod, telling him that she knew what she was doing and then left the room. There was one more place she needed to go.

* * *

Angela decided to take a drive to the pier to clear her head. One of the best things about living in Miami was the fact that there is always a constant supply of good oceanic views. That was one of the main reasons why she chose to work in Miami – one: she hated the cold, and two: there was something about the ocean that calmed her. Angela stood at the pier for what seemed like hours, just trying to contemplating her next move. She hadn't realized that she had spent the better part of her life basically trying to avenge her brother's death and that her entire career with the FBI turned out to be nothing but a lie. Sure she had worked on several other cases before Chow Lee landed on her lap, but it was that particular case she had been working towards her entire career. Now it was over and everything seemed - empty. Even more so was the fact that the people she thought she could trust the most and a mentor she looked up to turned out to be working against her and for the enemy. After she had moved to Miami – away from her parents she was alone and essentially turned to Daren for guidance. And as cliché as it sounded, she sort of thought of thought of Daren as a father figure, which was something she lacked with her foster father. Angela was then pulled out of her daze when she felt someone walk up beside her and leant on the siding of the pier as well.

"Miss Li." Horatio acknowledged as Angela nodded without looking directly at Horatio.

"Hey Lieutenant." Angela answered back.

"I heard about your resignation." Horatio said.

"News travels fast. I only called Wolfe to tell him the "wonderful" news two and a half hours ago." Angela answered while Horatio was taken aback from the fact that she instantly knew who had told him about Angela's departure from the FBI. And with that fact he smiled slightly and also because he liked Angela's sarcasm.

"Miss Li, why did you resign from the FBI? It looked like everything was going pretty well for you." Horatio asked, while Angela finally turned to face him.

"It just seems purposeless now, Lieutenant. I joined the FBI because I wanted to help people, then I ended up with this huge case on the BD and Tiger 6 gang, and my brother just so happened to be murdered by Lee. I don't know what happened – all those years my life became about avenging my brother's death and now that's gone... And you're going to think I'm being cheesy, but I really thought I was a part of great team and that after all of this we were going to put more bad guys away. I just didn't think that they were them as well. It just sucks you know?" Angela explained and thought to herself how easy she thought it was talking to Horatio.

"Miss Li, you have to realize that there are certain things that are beyond your control. You couldn't have known what Daren Levi and the rest of your team were doing." Horatio said in attempt to comfort her.

"I know. Well either way I'm screwed. Half the bureau thinks I had involvement and the other half sees me as someone who sold out her agents to get a promotion, even though they turned out to be the bad guys. You'd be surprised as to how much people gossip over at the bureau." Angela said.

"Actually, I'm not surprised; MDPD can be like a high school sometimes." Horatio added while Angela smiled slightly.

"In fact, would you like to see for yourself?" Horatio asked while Angela looked at him surprisingly.

"Was that a job offer?" Angela asked.

"It was. I think you'd make an invaluable member of our team and if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have solved this case." Horatio said while Angela had the expression on her face that said she was giving it some serious thought.

"Think about it Miss Li and call me, okay?" Horatio said as he patted Angela on the shoulder and then left.

* * *

A/N: The end is near!


	19. Chapter 19

EPILOGUE:

* * *

Angela walked up to Ryan's apartment and then began ferociously knocking on the door. Ryan who was resting at that point was startled by the pounding and limped as fast as he could downstairs to see who was making the racket.

"Was this whole thing your idea?" Angela asked while walking into Ryan's apartment nearly knocking him over.

"Hey to you too, and stalker much? How did you even know where I lived?" Ryan asked incredulously.

"I looked at your file remember, you'd think I would at least look up where you live. Now answer the question!" Angela retorted.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Ryan said trying to keep his "serious" face on.

"Don't play coy with me Wolfe, you know very well what I'm talking about. Did you convince Lieutenant Caine to give me a job?" Angela demanded.

"Well why not? You said you've always wanted to help people and you're more than qualified to be a CSI..." Ryan began.

"Wolfe, I just quit the FBI..." Angela began.

"Perfect, now you can start fresh. Listen, I know it's hard when you're not sure if you belong to a certain group, but at least you'll have a friend and people that have your back this time around." Ryan answered, while Angela had the expression on her face where she was seriously considering it.

"Friend? I don't think Calleigh and I can exactly be shoe buddies here. She wears Jiimmy Choo's while I prefer government issued." Angela joked even though she knew Ryan meant himself.

"That's funny. Look I'm not doing anything later on; you wanna go out, have a couple and talk it over?" Ryan asked while he crossed his arms across his chest.

"No, I can't. I still need to go and clean out my desk and locker at the bureau." Angela said as she breathed a heavy sigh.

"Alright, well I guess I'll see you at work next Monday then?" Ryan asked as he smiled and raised both his eyes brows.

"See you at work next Monday Wolfe, and get some rest you look like crap." Angela said as she rolled her eyes and then walked towards her car. Ryan then smiled walked and closed the door while Angela smiled then shook her head as she realized what she had just gotten herself into.

* * *

THE END

* * *

A/N: And there you have it, I already have another fanfic in the works! However, I'm still debating on whether to include my OC in the new story or save her for the next one. I would really appreciate some feedback on her character and whether to have her in the next story or not. I sort of wrote the character of Angela to be the female version of Ryan, and there's definitely going be more about her in the next story I include her in. I also want to concentrate more on her relationship with Ryan (non-romantic or course), but that's only if there's enough demand for her. So please tell what you guys think!

See you on the next one! :)


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